Tuesday, June 09, 2009 [ manilatimes.net ]
By Lailany P. Gomez, Reporter
The government has approved the dates for the sale of two state assets, the proceeds of which are expected to raise revenues amid weak tax collections this year.
Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi said the Cabinet has approved the sale of 103 hectares of the 120-hectare Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig in July.
“The bidding process will be in July. [The Privatization Management Office] will be publishing the rules including the price,” she said.
Legaspi disclosed that the property will be sold by blocks so the “developer can have flexibility to develop the lot in the best way possible.”
She said the Department of Finance wants to segregate the FTI property given existing short- and long-term leases of some private companies with the government.
“We understand that there are some [lease-holders] interested in acquiring it,” she said.
Legaspi said the government decided to segregate the property due to difficulties in selling the FTI asset as a whole.
The terminal is an agro-industrial-commercial estate and one of the largest industrial complexes in Metro Manila.
The government expects to raise P10 billion from the sale of FTI, which is lower than the earlier assumption of P15 billion. State-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had expressed interest in FTI, offering P7 billion for it.
Apart from GSIS, San Miguel Properties Inc. and Ayala Land Inc. also were interested in buying the lot.
Besides FTI, the government also plans to sell its stake in PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC).
Legaspi said the “proposal is well within the schedule.”
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the bidding would be in the “second quarter this year or third quarter at the latest.”
“The proposal is to sell the 40 percent of the [stake] by September. [The] price will be announced closer to the bidding date,” Legaspi said.
The government expects to raise between P11 billion and P15 billion in the upcoming sale but proceeds could reach only the lower end of the price range because of present market conditions.
The government through PNOC owns 99.78 percent of PNOC-EC, while the remaining 0.22 percent is held by the public.
The government earlier tapped the Development Bank of the Philippines, Citibank and ATR KimEng as financial advisers.
The planned sale has met with market skepticism, as a cash-strapped government would be hard-pressed demanding more money for these assets amid depressed market conditions.
Global Source had said it does “not see any major privatizations enhancing revenues this year in view of unfavorable environment for asset sales.”
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