Every gas station has two values: the fuel it sells today and the land it sits on tomorrow.
For Phoenix Petroleum, those plots of land may now be doing more to fuel its recovery than the gasoline flowing through its pumps.
Market sources say the Dennis Uy-led oil retailer has sold over a dozen service stations to Petron Corp., the latest indication that Phoenix is continuing to monetize its property portfolio as it works to repair a balance sheet weighed down by years of losses and debt. The companies have yet to disclose the transaction, but given the inclusion of several Metro Manila sites, the deal is unlikely to be small.
The strategy is hardly new.
A year ago, Phoenix sold a Cebu service station to Light Fuels Inc., a subsidiary of listed Top Line Business Development Corp., for P8.5 million, describing the sale as the disposal of a “non-essential asset.” Back then, it looked like housekeeping. Today, the sales appear more like a sustained clean-up.
Once the country’s fast-rising third-largest independent oil retailer, Phoenix had nearly 600 stations nationwide at the end of 2022. But rapid expansion, pandemic disruptions, volatile fuel markets, and a heavy debt load have since shifted management’s focus from building new stations to unlocking value from existing ones.
The numbers tell the story. Phoenix’s retained earnings deficit stood at P1.54 billion at end-2022 before swelling to P5.23 billion by September 2023, reflecting weaker asset values and continued financial strain. Phoenix hasn’t filed any new audited financial statements since 2022.
In a recent regulatory filing, Phoenix said its ongoing liability management exercise with creditor banks is designed to restructure debt into more manageable repayments while preserving enough capital to support a turnaround. Asset sales fit neatly into that script, generating liquidity without resorting to fresh equity.
For investors, the question is no longer whether Phoenix can sell assets—it clearly can. The more important question is whether those proceeds, coupled with debt restructuring, will buy enough time for the company to restore sustainable profitability.
Sometimes, the quickest way for the Phoenix to rise again isn’t by opening another station—it’s by selling one.
