PNOC may go public soon, says CEO

The Philippine National Oil Company may soon go public and list its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange, said Pedro Aquino Jr, PNOC head and chief executive officer. "My idea is to take PNOC public. We're trying to build the necessary steps and infrastructure in place to get us into that position," Aquino told reporters over the weekend. "We want, as much as possible, to be less or not dependent on sovereign guarantee, to be like any other private company that will compete for equity market," Aquino said, adding that he was encouraged by the positive response of the market of the listing of subsidiary PNOC-Energy Development Corporation. "We have to strengthen our position or relationship as far as our subsidiaries are concerned. The ideal thing to do is to have all subsidiaries privatized, then the mother company," Aquino said. He said it could be accomplished in three to five years. As of October 31, PNOC posted a consolidated net income of P692 million from P764 million in the same period last year. PNOC-EDC registered a net income of P5.4 billion from P7.12 billion while PNOC-EC booked a net income of P2.44 billion from P2.1 billion, PSTC at P51.56 million from P26.31 million and PDMC at P13.35 million from P8.9 million. PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp., formerly PNOC Petrochemical Development Corp. is actively pursuing projects such as a biofuel refinery worth $20.57 million. - GMANews.TV