SMC in talks to acquire Asian energy firm

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is hammering out a deal to acquire another energy company based in Asia with annual revenues of around $7 billion, a top company official said yesterday.

SMC president Ramon Ang said he is hopeful a deal will be signed with the company, which he declined to identify.

He did not disclose other details but said the target firm rakes in substantial revenues in the range of $6 billion to $7 billion.

In August, SMC acquired 65 percent of ExxonMobil International Holdings Inc.’s 65 percent stake in Esso Malaysia Bhd. as well as the takeover of wholly-owned units ExxonMobil Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and ExxonMobil Borneo Sdn.

The three Malaysian companies’ prized assets include the Port Dickson refinery which has a rated capacity of 88,000 barrels a day; seven fuel distribution terminals; and a network of roughly 560 branded service stations, 420 of which are company-owned.

SMC earlier said it would upgrade the port so it can make use of a wider variety of crudes and produce higher value products.

SMC, the largest food and drinks conglomerate in Southeast Asia, went on an aggressive expansion binge that catapulted it to become the biggest power player in the Philippines. It also has interests in oil refiner Petron Corp., power distributor Manila Electric Co., infrastructure, coal mining and telecommunications.

The group now accounts for nearly 30 percent of installed power capacity on the main Luzon island and has plans to add 3,000 megawatts of new capacity in the next 10 years through greenfield power projects requiring investments of about P90.4 billion.