Linde eyes P1.5B for RP plants
By Ronnel Domingo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:40:00 03/27/2008
STA. ROSA, Laguna--The Linde Group, a German gases and engineering firm, announced that its Philippine affiliates would invest some P1.3 billion to refurbish an existing plant here and build a new one in Cebu.
Sanjiv Lamba, managing director of the Munich-based firm, said in a briefing that the group decided to expand its presence here due to the increasing demand for its products as well as growth in its portfolio of clients.
The investment covers the P300-million upgrade of CIGI's air separation unit in this town as well as SIG's P1-billion plan to build a brand new ASU in Cebu.
"We made the investment decision because we were impressed by the local governments' passion to bring growth to their areas," Lamba said.
He said the Linde Group, which has markets from Pakistan in the west to Korea in the east, decided to invest in the Philippines instead of other countries because the local market was posting the biggest growth.
Linde Group's subsidiaries in the country are the Luzon-based Consolidated Industrial Gases Inc. and Southern Industrial Gases Philippines Inc., which operates in the Visayas and in Mindanao.
Both companies, which have the country's largest network of gas production and distribution centers, manufacture bulk and compressed industrial gases and provide customers with gas supply and engineering services.
Dennis B. Jordan, managing director of both CIGI and SIG, said the expansion projects were being undertaken amid the growth of allied industries such as electronics, healthcare, shipbuilding, steel and fabrication and manufacturing.
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