SteelAsia planning to hold IPO

SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., the country’s largest steel manufacturer, is considering going public in a few years.

Company chair and CEO Benjamin Yao said this in an interview with reporters, adding that SteelAsia might hold initial public offering (IPO) in a year or two.

Years back, SteelAsia had said it was planning to hold an IPO to support its expansion plans. Yao, however, said the expansion plans would continue “with or without the IPO.”

Company officials said on Tuesday that SteelAsia would spend P80 billion to add new capacities in its facilities in the next six years in a bid to help the country build a strong steel industry.

They said the expansion plan would be implemented in three phases. By the time the company ends phase one in 2021, it would have three additional steel mills in Batangas, Tarlac and Cebu.

Once all phases are completed, SteelAsia’s capacity would be seven million tons of finished steel products per year and 4.3 million tons of materials used in steel making, such as billets, according to a company presentation.

According to Rafael Hidalgo, vice president for corporate development, the first phase would cost $500 million, or P25 billion, and would involve the construction of three integrated steel mills. He, however, deferred from providing details about the next two phases.

The company currently has six steel mills spread across the country.