Petron buys into Limay plastic plant

Petron Corp. is diversifying into the plastic business by buying a stake in a company that owns a polypropylene plant in Limay, Bataan. The country’s biggest oil refiner told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday it had entered into a deal with Vantage Stride (Mauritius) Limited to buy 40% of the outstanding shares of Petrochemical Asia (HK) Limited (PAHL). The latter indirectly owns the polypropylene plant in Limay. "With this partnership, Petron will be able to share in the incremental value of converting propylene into polypropylene," Petron Assistant Corporate Secretary Joel Angelo C. Cruz told the bourse. It added that the investment was "part of its strategy to further diversify into the petrochemical business and add additional revenue streams." Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications, including food packaging, textiles, plastic parts and reusable containers, laboratory equipment and automotive components etc. The country’s leading oil refiner earlier this month listed 100 million perpetual preferred shares on the exchange. The P10-billion share sale was the single biggest perpetual preferred share listing on the bourse. The company had to double the original share volume given high demand from institutional and retail investors, which it said reflects investor confidence in Petron’s viability over the long term. — N.P. Aquino, GMANews.TV