Roxas unit raises stake in San Carlos Bioenergy

A unit of listed company Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) now owns about a third of San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. (SCBI).

RHI confirmed via text message that its recent acquisition of a 2.966-percent stake in SCBI would add to its existing 26.7-percent share in the bioethanol producer based in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

Roxas Pacific Bioenergy Corp. (RPBC), a unit of RHI, signed a sale and purchase agreement with Valmayor Ventures Inc. for the acquisition of the latter’s 2.966-percent interest in SCBI.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RHI said its unit bought Valmayor’s shares in SCBI for P46.72 million.

In March, RPBC bought the Zabaleta family’s 26.7-percent stake in SCBI for P420 million.

The buy-in on SCBI effectively expanded RHI’s ethanol business.

Bioethanol is produced using sugar extract and/or molasses. SCBI and Roxol are located in Negros Occidental, where 60 percent of the country’s sugar is produced.

RHI president and CEO Renato C. Valencia said that synergies with SCBI would optimize both firms’ production capacities.

SCBI is the country’s second largest ethanol company. The company produced almost 29 million liters of bioethanol in 2014 while RHI’s Roxol Bioenergy Corp. posted an output of 35.6 million liters.