Del Rosario-led PHINMA Corporation is expanding its cement business in Mindanao with the planned acquisition of Petra Cement’s plant Zamboanga del Norte as well as the construction of new facilities in Davao.
In an interview, PHINMA Executive Vice President for Construction Materials Group Eduardo A. Sahagun said “It has started and after that, we’re almost there for the actual purchase for the Petra plant.”
He added that the acquisition of the Petra Cement plant will make PHINMA the only cement company serving Northern Mindanao.
Last January PHINMA’s subsidiary Philcement Corporation had signed a manufacturing and sale agreement with Petra Cement which will allow Philcement to operate the Zamboanga plant to produce, distribute and sell cement products.
Petra Cement is the sister company of Big Boss Cement which was founded by its President Gilbert Cruz and counts Henry Sy Jr. among its top investors.
The Petra Plant is located in President Manuel A. Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte and comprises a cement grinding facility with a capacity of 500,000 metric tons per annum.
“We actually look at that as an opportunity. When we look at where it is located, it’s almost like we’re the only one there serving northern Mindanao. We think that has a good potential for us. And bring us more closer to where we want to be as we actually put together our model for being more sustainable for our cement business,” Sahagun said.
The acquisition will complement the 1.5 million ton per year cement packaging plant PHINMA plans to put up in Davao. Currently PHINMA has a processing plant in Mariveles, Bataan.
“That will bring our total capacity to somewhere like 5 million tons if all those things will be completed in a couple of years,” said Sahagun.
Meanwhile, Sahagun said “the Davao plant is about to start. We’re just working on its environmental clearance certificate.”
The Davao plant, a joint venture with local partners, is estimated to cost about P2 billion and will be funded by a combination of equity from the joint venture partners and some debt.
PHINMA’s construction materials group (CMG) composed of Union Galvasteel Corp. (UGC), Philcement Corp. and PHINMA Solar Energy Corp. logged combined revenues of P13.27 billion and a combined net income of P430.95 million.
“UGC’s sales volume grew as construction activities rebounded in the second half of 2023,” the company said.
PHINMA Solar meanwhile posted its highest revenues to date, as well as being the only successful bidder for solar rooftops in the government’s Green Energy Auction Program — 58 projects, totalling 9.39 megawatt peak (mWP).
PHINMA earlier said it is allocating P4.5 billion for capital expenditures this year, up from last year’s P3 billion.
Edmund Alan Qua-Hiansen, Phinma chief finance officer (CFO), said the company’s education business will have about half of the total allocations, with the property business getting P1.75 billion while P500 million will go to the company’s hospitality and construction materials businesses.