PH steel facility in Cebu to start operations by June

By Othel V. Campos

THE Philippines’ largest steel mill produced its first reinforced steel bars as it entered the final phases of commissioning before starting commercial operations by June this year, SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. said Friday.

“This is another major step for our country to be self-sufficient for our steel needs—a goal SteelAsia is committed to pursue. Every single country in the region is self-reliant and the Philippines should not be left behind to depend only on imports,” said SteelAsia chairman and chief executive Benjamin Yao.

The steel mill in Compostela, Cebu will produce 1 million tons of highstrength rebars annually. It uses the latest available technology, making it the country’s most efficient and environment-friendly steel facility.

SteelAsia said with this additional capacity, on top of 6 other mills located all over the country, it would have a total capacity of 3 million tons annually, making it the largest producer of rebars in Southeast Asia.

The Development Bank of the Philippines funded the project with P5.7 bil- lion in long-term loans. SteelAsia and DBP signed the loan agreement in June 2020, and construction was completed in 30 months despite the global pandemic and supply chain disruptions.

Steel Asia has been investing heavily in manufacturing plants to ramp up local capacity to make the nation less dependent on imports.

The Compostela mill will also produce welded reinforcing mesh—the first such facility in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“This will ensure adequate highquality and economical steel supply for housing and infrastructure development,” said Yao.

He said the mill would expand SteelAsia’s capacity to serve different regions, giving builders the benefits of localized product availability, lower logistics cost and a faster response time.

Yao inspected the mill and met with the Italian engineers from Danieli & C. S.p.A., the mill’s design and equipment supplier, to commend them on the mill’s commissioning.

The Compostela plant, once fully operational, will create 500 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs.

Pse Index Closing

SMIC said in a stock exchange filing that of the 378.817 million 2GO shares owned by the public, 352,690 million shares were tendered from March 15, 2023 to April 28, 2023. The tendered shares were crossed on the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday via a special block sale.

SMIC acquired the shares during the tender offer at P14.64 apiece, which translated into total transaction value of P5.163 billion.

The tender offer is in line with the conglomerate’s previously announced plan to delist 2GO from the local bourse.

SMIC, which has investments in banking, property and retail businesses, acquired the majority control of 2GO from businessman Dennis Uy in 2021.

Singapore-based fund Trident Investments Holdings Pte. Ltd. owns the remaining 31.73 percent of the total outstanding capital stock of 2GO.

Following the completion of the tender offer, the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday suspended the trading of 2GO shares as its public float dropped below the 10-percent minimum requirement.

The company provides shipping, logistics and distribution services to consumers, small and medium enterprises, large corporations and government agencies throughout the Philippines.

It operates interisland roll-on/rolloff freight and passenger vessels and freighters and group offers transportation via air, land and sea; warehousing and distribution; cold chain solutions; domestic and international ocean and air forwarding services; customs brokerage; project logistics; and express and last mile package and e-commerce delivery.

METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co., the second-largest lender in terms of assets, said Friday its net income in the first quarter jumped 31.3 percent yearon-year to P10.5 billion on sustained strength of core businesses.

The bank said in a statement this resulted in a 13.1-percent return on equity, higher than the 10.3 percent recorded in the same period last year.

“Metrobank’s solid performance in the first three months of the year reflects our continued efforts to capture opportunities of a growing economy while we strive to keep our balance sheet strong against risks of volatile market conditions,” Metrobank president Fabian Dee said.

“For the rest of the year, we will continue making progress in further improving our products and services and implement strategies in line with our promise of keeping our customer in good hands,” he said.

Net interest income surged 28.8 percent to P24.9 billion, lifted by higher loans and a 54-basis-point hike in net interest margin to 3.9 percent.

courtesy call to newlyappointed Social Security System president and chief executive Rolando all areas