7 banks vie for advisor role in PNOC-EC sale

The Philippine National Oil Co-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), the exploration arm of the state-owned PNOC, has pre-qualified seven investment banks to become the financial advisor for its planned privatization next year.

The shortlist includes ABN Amro, ING Barings, SGV, CLSA Investment Bank, SEA Consultant, Lazard and ATR Kim-Eng.

PNOC-EC vice president and chief operating officer Rafael Del Pilar, in a press conference yesterday said the bids are expected to be submitted at the end of this month.

Selection of the winning bidder will be completed by mid-July. "We had a pre-bid conference last May 16 where the requirements have been submitted. The award is expected to be sometime mid-July," Del Pilar said.

Del Pilar said they expect to start the formal privatization of the company by the first quarter of next year.

The PNOC-EC official said the privatization process would last for about a year. "If the environment is favorable, we expect the completion of EC’s privatization by the end of next year," he added.

He said they would choose the financial advisor based on its expertise to handle a privatization of an exploration firm. "It should be able to recommend the best privatization scheme," he said.

According to Del Pilar, they would be considering a number of criteria to determine the financial advisor for the privatization process.

"The importance of this privatization lies in the valuation of the corporation. It should design the privatization process, particularly on how to maximize the benefits of the privatization. PNOC-EC then will decide, through the privatization committee, which among the recommendations it will adopt," he said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier came up with three options on how PNOC-EC should be privatized.

The first option is to re-list the shares of PNOC-EC in the local stock market. The company’s less than two percent shares have been listed in the country’s local bourse since 1976 but were not actively being traded.

The second option is for EC to sell only its 10-percent stake in the Malampaya Deep Water to Gas project amounting to about $300 million.

PNOC-EC, which has total assets of P10.67 billion as of end-2001, is part of the consortium that developed the Malampaya field. Shell Philippines Exploration (SPEX) leads the group with an equity stake of 45 percent. The remaining 45 percent shares are owned by Texaco. The last option being eyed from the PNOC-EC privatization mode is the combination of both schemes.