Phoenix raising P1B for capex

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines targets to raise as much as P1 billion through a club loan facility to help finance its capital expenditure projects for the year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Phoenix said its board had already approved the plan to tap this facility to raise P600 million to P1 billion. The said transaction will be arranged by BDO Capital.

The company is spending P1.5 billion for its capital expenditure program this year, which covers the construction of 80 additional service stations.

As of the end of 2010, Phoenix had 161 service stations, mostly in Mindanao.

Phoenix is also completing the construction of two fuel storage terminals to add to the company’s five existing terminals.

Earlier this year, the company said it wanted to tap a $10-million convertible debt facility from the International Finance Corp., to help fund its retail network and depot expansion program in 2011 and 2012.

As of the end of June this year, Phoenix posted a 126-percent surge in net income to P305 million, due largely to an 87-percent increase in sales volume during the period. Revenue in the first six months grew to P13.979 billion from the previous year’s P6.188 billion. However, total cost and expenses rose significantly to P13.494 billion from P5.963 billion year on year.—Amy R. Remo