PMO lowers indicative price for PNCC to P5B

The Privatization and Management Office (PMO) has decided to lower the indicative price for the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) from the original P7 billion to P5 billion, PMO chief Renato B. Valdecantos said yesterday.

The decision to lower PNCC’s indicative price was due to complaints from interested bidders that the construction firm’s assets are overvalued, Valdecantos said.

"The PMO would also try to settle ahead some of the tax liabilities of the PNCC which is estimated at around P1 billion," he said.

The defunct Asset Privatization Trust (APT), which has been replaced by the PMO, had tried to sell PNCC last year at an indicative price of P7 billion. But the offered rates for PNCC were way below the indicative price.

At that time, one of the reasons for the lack of interest in PNCC was the expiry of its toll license in seven years. The toll license of PNCC is supposed to be automatically renewed for another 30 years if the company makes any improvements in its performance.

"The PMO intends to rehabilitate PNCC first and break it up to separate pieces," Valdecantos said.

Last year, the highest bid for PNCC came from Strategic Alliance Development Corp. and Korean Pharmaceutical giant Dong-A which offered P1.228 billion, or 82 percent off the indicative price of P7 billion.

The other bidders were Pacific Infrastructure Development International which offered P536.888 million and the group of Philippine Exporters Confederation president Sergio Ortiz-Luis and Korean Assets with an even lower bid of P420 million.

Stradec is the Philippine subsidiary of Indonesia’s PT Citra Lamtero Gung Persada which is owned by the Suharto family.