ATI gets P600-M loan from HSBC

The South Harbor-based port operator Asian Terminals Inc. has secured a P600-million loan from the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) for the funding of its capital expenditures and the refinan-cing and of its existing debt.

The company told the Philippine Stock Exchange that the five-year loan facility will support its major project, a P100-million passenger shipping terminal that would form part of a 10-year modernization program in the Manila Bay area.

Started last May, the new facility to rise at Pier 15 of the South Harbor is designed to service passengers of domestic shipping lines, with amenities comparable with those of modern airports. In addition, the pier will be able to accommodate larger ships, hence opening up more opportunities for more efficient shipping operators and lower freight costs.

The construction of the new facility is targeted for completion in six months, making it fully operational in time for the Christmas holidays.

The Pier 15 upgrade is a vital component in the government’s 10-year South Harbor master development plan, which calls for the upgrading of piers, tripling of container yard space, and acquisition of new equipment and technology.

Together with the Philippine Ports Authority, ATI will concentrate on the construction of the new terminal in line with the total P670-million project cost for the modernization program, including other support facilities and equipment.

For its part, ATI has set a 25-year program to modernize and expand the South Harbor, leading off with the deployment and commissioning last year of modern cranes worth a total of $6.3 million. In April 2001, ATI embarked on a two-year, P566 million expansion of the main container yard intended to increase the container terminal’s annual capacity which already reached an all-time high last year.

Aside from the South Harbor, ATI operates three other international seaports in the Philippines: the Port of Batangas, the Mariveles Grain Terminal in Bataan, and the Port of General Santos in Mindanao.

The company also operates logistics services for the Malampaya offshore supply base of Shell Philippines Exploration as well as three large logistics centers in Calamba, Laguna.

ATI is part of P&O Ports of Australia, a renowned operator of more than 50 port facilities around the world and is affiliated with the P&O Group, a global leader in maritime logistics services for more than 160 years. Last June, P&O Ports increased its stake in the company through the buy-out of the 7.69-percent interest held by ATI’s other foreign investor, Japan’s Mitsui and Co. Ltd.

The resulting buy-out increased P&O’s stake in ATI to 13.33 percent of outstanding capital stock. The acquired stocks roughly translate to 153.8 million shares valued at about P184.56 million based on the current market price of P1.2 per share on total outstanding stocks of 2 billion common shares.

The decision of the Japanese trading and logistics giant to divest from ATI, meanwhile, is part of its strategy to expand its international business activities in the areas of railway projects, communications technology and industrial machinery.

This as Mitsui recently bagged impressive projects such as the Taiwan High-Speed Train project and the Electrified Double Track project in Malaysia.