MIC to acquire integrated waste mgm’t firm

MANILA, Philippines - Local stock market players will soon have a chance to make gold not only from mines but from garbage, too.

Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies Inc. (BEST), the country’s largest integrated waste solutions provider, is set for acquisition by publicly-listed but dormant firm Minerales Industrias Corp. (MIC) early next year.

BEST is owned by IPM group of companies, the diversified holding firm of entrepreneur Isabelita P. Mercado, currently chief financial officer and treasurer of MIC.

MIC shareholders will meet Feb. 8 next year to approve IPM’s purchase of 500 million MIC shares with a par value of P1 each. The P500-million cash infusion will then be used to acquire 75 percent of BEST which would enable MIC to shift its focus from mining metals to mining profits from tons of Metro Manila’s trash being collected, processed and recycled by BEST.

“We’re looking forward to becoming part of the stock market. We’re confident that by being part of MIC – a publicly-list firm – more people will be aware of the innovations we have done in providing a sustainable and environment-friendly solution to Metro Manila’s waste problems,” said Dwight Ramos, BEST vice president.

MIC shares have jumped 16 percent to a 52-week high of P6.35 since the MIC board approved IMP’s take over of the company on Nov. 21.

IPM formed BEST in 1999 primarily as a garbage collection contractor for Metro Manila and hauling these wastes to landfill areas like Payatas. In 2005, the company began its march towards providing total waste management by taking over the rehabilitation and closure project of the Payatas controlled dump facility in Quezon City.

Three years later, BEST opened a world-class engineered sanitary landfill facility in Morong, Rizal to serve the waste disposal requirements of the province and select private corporations. The Morong facility has since expanded to include a materials recovery and composting facility (MRCF) which pushed BEST closer to its goal of becoming an integrated waste management solution provider to Metro Manila’s perennial garbage problem from collection to disposal to recycling.

BEST’s industry-best expertise was showcased during the aftermath of the devastation left by typhoon Ondoy in 2009 when it was tapped by the National Government to undertake the massive cleanup of Metro Manila.

BEST was instrumental in helping the Metro Manila Development Authority achieve its goal of clearing the metropolis’ main roads within days after Ondoy with the deployment of its staff and equipment in the collelction and disposal of tons of garbage and other flood debris.

Mercado established the IPM Group 16 years ago initially as a building contractor and has since expanded into environment management, equipment trading, information technology and real estate development.