ATI completes sale of Mariveles Grains to Phil Grain International

MANILA, Philippines - Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) has successfully concluded the sale of all its shares in Mariveles Grains Corp. (MGC) to Philippine Grain International Corp. (PGIC).

ATI officials said the sale price is in excess of ATI’s recorded book value for such shares.

The company pointed out that with the sale, ATI expects to focus on expanding and upgrading its other businesses and growing its ability to generate revenue from new and existing port operations.

The sale came after ATI’s stockholders approved the sale of the company’s grains terminal in Mariveles, Bataan to a “third party buyer.”

It was earlier reported that the third party buyer is grains trader and miller La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp., owned by businessman Alfonso Uy. It cannot be determined as of press time whether or not PGIC is a company owned by Uy.

The grains terminal is owned by MGC, a wholly-owned unit of ATI.

Earlier, ATI chairman Eusebio Tanco said the grains terminal, which he emphasized only comprises a small portion of the company’s total assets, will be sold at a price that yields a profit.

Tanco added that the ongoing negotiations with the third-party buyer represents “certainly a better deal for ATI.”

Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has been in negotiations with ATI since 2008 for the purchase of the Mariveles Grains Terminal through San Miguel Logistics Asia Corp. and was confident it would clinch the deal until ATI announced it was selling the Bataan grains facility to another undisclosed buyer.

SMC was planning to team up with Toyota Tsusho Corp. of Japan for the acquisition which was estimated to cost P1.6 billion. The deal would have made SMC the regional leader in grains distribution and logistics.

The terminal can accommodate vessels of up to 70,000 deadweight tons, discharge cargo at 10,000 metric tons per day and store 180,000 MT of both soybean and grain cargoes at any given time.

The Mariveles terminal can also handle deliveries from Panamax vessels at a rate of 8,000 to 10,000 metric tons per day.

SMC said that when its plan to acquire the Mariveles Grains Terminal from ATI did not materialize, its interest in the North Harbor modernization project gathered momentum.

The conglomerate has acquired the 35 percent stake of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) in the Manila North Harbor Port Inc. (MNHPI), the company that bagged the 25-year, P14.5-billion contract to modernize and operate North Harbor, the country’s busiest domestic port. Harbour Center Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) of the Romero group owns the remaining 65 percent.

SMC revealed that it now plans to construct a brand-new grains terminal in North Harbor to service the needs of its food and beverage businesses.