Asian Terminals to issue P500-M notes to pay debts

Port operator Asian Terminals Inc. will issue P500 million worth of fixed and floating rate notes to refinance debt and fund the rehabilitation of its cargo handling facilities.

In a statement, ATI said it signed an agreement yesterday for the issuance of three to five-year floating and fixed-rate notes to Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Land Bank of the Philippines. SCB arranged the loan facility.

In December 2002, SCB also arranged the P1.3 billion fixed and floating rate notes with maturities of 3, 5 and 10 years. Investors included Sunlife of Canada (Phils.) Inc., Sunlife of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc., Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd., Security Bank Corporation, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. –TBG as Trustee, and Robinsons Savings Bank.

Standard Chartered is one of the world’s leading emerging markets bank. It employs 30,000 people in over 500 offices in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, United Kingdom and the Americas.

ATI said proceeds from the notes issue will be used for the firm’s ongoing capital expenditure program, which includes the South Harbor Development Program.

The South Harbor Development Program, which is linked to demand, includes modernization and capacity building of the facilities for international container and general cargo handling.

Manila’s South Harbor is one of the country’s largest international ports at 85 hectares of land and 600 hectares of total anchorage area.

An affiliate of P&O Australia, Ltd., aside from the South Harbor, ATI renders cargo-handling services for the country’s imports and export cargoes at international ports in Manila, Batangas, Mariveles, and General Santos City.

ATI also operates the Mariveles Grain Terminal, the country’s most modern bulk handling facility.

P&O is a leading global port operator with 24 container terminals and logistics operations in 84 ports in 17 countries.

Backed by increased cargo volumes, profits of ATI slighly went up to P104 million in the first quarter this year from P103 million a year earlier.

The company’s consolidated revenues reached P899 million or 18 percent higher than the previous year’s P763 million.

ATI president and chief executive officer John Buckley said the continued improvement in the firm’s financial performance resulted from ATI’s organic growth.

During the first three months of 2003, ATI secured a number of new services, including a joint venture between Wan Hai and Uniglory, CT Navigation with agents Goldlink, Yang Ming and Uniglory and Yang Ming’s new Taiwan Manila Express service.