MANILA (18 Oct 2017) - Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp. is set to invest some USD1.0-billion for three new mini steel mills in the country, its Vice President Roberto Cola said Tuesday. Cola told reporters that the new facilities would produce billets, bloom, beam blanks, slabs, rebars, wire rod, sections, and plates. The three mini-mills will have a total capacity of two million metric tons annually. Cola mentioned that Steel Asia is partnering with two investors - from Italy and Japan - for the plates and sections plants, while the facility producing rebars would be its own venture. He said Steel Asia is now finalizing the memoranda of agreement with two partner investors. The company is eyeing Batangas and Subic for the location of its mini-steel mills. This is after Steel Asia has abandoned its plan to acquire the National Steel Corp. (NSC) in Iligan City, as the company and the local government failed to reach to an agreement. Cola said that the company was asked to pay NSC's liabilities on taxes and power, and the local government would also like to be a part-owner of the facility. According to Cola, Steel Asia's offer was to lease the land, pay for the infrastructure, and shoulder "reasonable taxes," but the company would no longer pay for the old mill since the company initially plans to put up a new facility. [Kris Crismundo, Philippine News Agency]
METRO Manila (17 Oct 2017) - STEEL Asia manufacturing Corporation will no longer be acquiring National Steel Corp. (NSC) due to bureaucratic issues in the negotiation of the shuttered steel-making facility, opting instead to build their own facilities.
Roberto M. Cola
In an interview with reporters, Steel Asia Vice President Roberto M. Cola affirmed it is letting go of previous plans to buy National Development Corp.'s (NDC) National Steel for its infrastructure. "We won't be pursuing NSC anymore," Cola said. "We wanted that for the infrastructure already there because it was going to be easier to build a new steel mill there, what with the port and the industrial provisions." The company executive cited a breakdown in negotiations especially with the local government officials in Iligan, who wanted to become part owners of the company after it is acquired by Steel Asia. According to Cola, Steel Asia offered acquisition terms that included payment of the National Steel's real-property back taxes amounting to some Php 4-billion, a settlement with the National Power Corp. for payment on past power consumption and rent payment for the land (based on a compromise on valuation). Talks on the purchase of NSC included a number of parties, including banks, NDC under the Department of Trade and Industry, Global Steel and other NSC claimants. NSC has had a checkered history, going through several privatization efforts through almost six decades since its creation in the 1950s.
With the discussion seen to be too difficult for an industry supplying the main construction material for the country's infrastructure drive, we decided to look elsewhere to build a $1-billion steel-making facility, according to Cola. "We're looking at another site, possibly Batangas or Subic," he added. Cola said that facility will include a scrap-based electric-arc furnace with a capacity of 0.5 million metric tons to produce beam blacks, slabs, and billets. A rolling mill will also be installed to produce sections, rebars, and plates. He added that Steel Asia is in talks with Italian and Japanese investors for joint ventures in the mini-mills for the production of sections and plates. Steel Asia will produce the rebars themselves. The firm will be conducting an ocular visit next week on possible sites, as well as finalizing a memorandum of understanding with a yet-unnamed foreign investor. [Catherine Pillas, Business Mirror]
