SBMA, Singapore’s Interflour Group close $30-M investment deal

Singapore-based Interflour Group Pte Ltd. (Interflour), one of the producers of the finest flour in the world, will be building its Philippine mill in Subic as part of its expansion program to meet flour demand in Southeast Asia.

This developed as Interflour Managing Director and Chief Executive Greg Harvey, Subic Bay Gateway Park President Jeff Lin, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto Garcia signed a 50-year lease contract paving the way for the construction of the flour mill facility.

The event was witnessed by SBMA COO Joven Reyes, SBMA Deputy Administrator Joy Alvarado and SBMA Investment Manager Ronnie Yambao. Representing Interflour were Group COO Jack Joseph Cwach, Group Marketing Director Angel Umali, Group CFO Ma. Cristina Piguing, Group General Counsel Mark Neo, Mabuhay Interflour Mill Inc. (MIMI) Board Members Jesus Alcordo and Edgardo Gallo, and MIMI General Manager Vicente Magbanua.

Registered under the business name Mabuhay Interflour Mill Inc, the new flour mill is part of the US$30-million committed project investment of Interflour in Subic.

Garcia said the new Subic entrant is proof that the Philippines is “in the screen” of foreign investors who are encouraged by the trust and confidence earned by President Aquino’s good governance program.

The new flour mill will be constructed in a 52,852-sq.m. lot inside the Subic Bay Gateway Park. It is expected to be completed in 24 months’ time.

The company will engage in milling of wheat into food flour for direct sale to consumers, distributors and retailers in the domestic and for-export markets.

Garcia added that the project would provide bakeshops and entrepreneurs in the country with the highest quality flour in competitive or much lower price, as the cost of hauling and transporting flour to parts of Central and Northern Luzon will be cut by as much as fifty percent.

This will also mean additional revenue for SBMA of about P5.5 million a year, for the use of ports by transport ships coming from wheat-growing countries like Australia, United States, Canada, as well as Europe and the Black Sea countries.

For Interflour, Harvey noted that Interflour Group is one of the biggest flour milling companies in the world with seven flour mills located in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey. The combined wheat milling capacity of these mills is nearly 6,000 tons per day, which is equivalent to almost 1.5 million tons of flour produced each year.

He added that Interflour holds international certifications for its world-class technology, including Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), and a certification for producing Halal food products.

The proposed mill in Subic will be capable of producing 500 metric tons a day of flour. However, Interflour plans to expand its capacity with an additional 500 tons by 2019.

“The Philippines is an important market in Asia, with an estimated 25,000 bakeshops and with Gardenia as the largest. Interflour will be offering the finest flour for the local market, particularly in Central Luzon,” Harvey said. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:
SBMA Chairman Roberto V. Garcia (center) signs a memorandum of agreement for the flour mill project with Interflour Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Greg Harvey (left) and SBDMC Inc. President Jeff Lin.

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Chinese firm pledges P9-billion investment at Subic Freeport

A Chinese steel manufacturer has pledged P9 billion for an export-oriented business project here in the Subic Bay Freeport.

The Panhua Group Co. Ltd. will engage in the pre-painting of steel coils and metal sheets for export and domestic trade and other allied industries.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto V. Garcia said the SBMA board of directors approved Panhua’s proposal on its 258th board meeting in February 2014.

The Chinese firm is also engaged in shipping, real estate, mining, steel manufacturing and logistics business in China.

Garcia said the entry of Panhua in Subic attests to the growing attractiveness of the country to foreign investments.

“The Philippines is currently enjoying a BBB rating from Standard and Poor’s, which means that the country has adequate capacity to meet financial commitments,” Garcia noted.

He added that more foreign direct investments (FDIs) are pouring into the Philippines because it has earned the trust of investors after it received investment upgrades from different rating firms.

The Panhua Group is a large-scale conglomerate, manufacturer, exporter, and wholesale supplier of cold-rolled steel coil, cold-rolled steel sheet, galvanized steel coil, galvanized steel sheet, pre-painted galvanized steel coil, and pre-painted galvanized steel coil sheet.

With an annual steel production capacity of 1.5 metric tons, Panhua Group Co. Ltd. is listed among the 500 top private enterprises in China.

The firm’s main manufacturing bases, which have a registered capital of $100 million, are located in Zhangjiagang City and Fuling District, as well as Chongqing City in mainland China.

Company officials said its proposed Subic Bay Freeport operations are expected to augment its production, as it has pegged its export target at 42,000 metric tons per month to begin in the first quarter of 2016.

Panhua’s newly-approved project in Subic will be located at Subic Bay Gateway Park Phase 2 and will initially be manned by 100 employees. (RFD/MPD-SBMA)

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SBMA eyes P23 billion in new investments

Riding on its record-breaking accomplishments last year and the strengthening of systems in the past two years, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has set its sights on generating P23 billion in new investments in 2014.

In his State of the Freeport Address (Sofa) on Thursday, SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia said the agency had set investment promotion as a major program to capitalize on the successful capacity-building efforts of his administration in the past two years.

“Let us unite to make Subic a better place,” Garcia told members of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the annual Sofa event, as well as officials and employees of locator-companies here, and other community stakeholders who attended the forum at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center.

He added that achieving excellence must be a continuing effort for everybody in the Subic Freeport, as he unveiled the agency’s major program for 2014.

Garcia also said that aside from targeting new investments, the SBMA would focus on creating new jobs to achieve inclusive growth; aggressively pursue the use of Subic’s container port to decongest Manila ports and vehicular traffic; and attract more tourists and visitors by launching a creative tourism campaign and hosting more events.

He said the SBMA would also implement “major reorganization” to effectively achieve its strategic initiatives; simplify business processes to deliver better service to locators and residents; improve the status of agency employees by implementing the long-delayed salary increases; and intensify its good governance program.

As one means to promote the attractiveness of Subic as an investment hub, the SBMA has “substantially increased capital expenditures from P9 million in 2013 to P620 million this year,” Garcia said.

The programmed expenses, Garcia added, include more than P90 million for land and land improvements; P2.6 million in buildings and structures; P133.96 million in information-technology equipment; and P393.4 million in equipment outlay.

In his address, the SBMA head largely painted a rosy picture of increasing opportunities and potentials in this premier free port brought about by the agency’s record-breaking performance in investment generation, tourism promotion and revenue collection last year.

Starting with the agency’s investment-promotion performance, Garcia said total committed investments in Subic substantially increased by 800 percent from P3 billion in 2012 to P27 billion in 2013, thus increasing cumulative investments here by 7 percent, or from $8.8 billion in 2012 to $9.4 billion last year.

The new investment projects also created a total of 2,597 new jobs, the SBMA official said.

To further generate new investments, the SBMA acquired new additional areas for development last year, Garcia said. These consist of 10,000 hectares in San Antonio, Zambales, which is ideal for tourism and resort development; and a 650-hectare expansion area in Subic town, which was set for shipbuilding and ship repair.

In other areas, Garcia said the Subic Bay Freeport registered a 3-percent increase in tourist arrivals, a 6-percent growth in sports events, an 8.7-percent increase in ship calls, and a 56-percent increase in seaport revenue, an 8.9-percent growth in income-tax collection, a 71-percent increase in customs collection, a 0.5-percent increase in manpower, a 13-percent increase in remittances to the National Treasury, and a 12-percent increase in revenue shares given to neighboring local government units.

Garcia also pointed out that the SBMA broke several records in financial performance last year: its P2.09-billion gross revenue was the highest ever in the 21 years of the Subic Bay Freeport; a 52-percent increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was also the highest in SBMA history; a 35-percent increase in SBMA net income became the biggest in 21 years; and its P1.15-billion cash position also was the highest since 2005. (Henry Empeño, Business Mirror)
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http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/news/economy/28244-sbma-eyes-p23-billion-in-new-investments

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