Consunji pays P1.58B for Atlas stake

The Consunji group has paid P1.58 billion for its 5.3-percent stake in Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp.

The purchase of the equity stake was completed on March 29 with a block sale consisting of 95.99 million shares at P16.50 each, based on data from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

A spokesperson from the Consunji group confirmed to Inquirer that this was the block bought by the group through privately held DFC Holdings Inc.

The block acquired by the Consunji group is now worth about P1.83 billion as the mining firm’s share price has risen by 15.5 percent since the group’s entry.

Atlas’ share price closed at P19.06 per share at the local stock market Tuesday, giving it a market capitalization of P34.5 billion.

The entry makes the Consunji group—which is into mining, power generation, construction and infrastructure development—a strategic partner of the Ramos and Sy families in Atlas.

Atlas is seen to benefit from the Consunji group’s technical expertise in mining given its own successful coal mining venture via Semirara Mining Corp.

“The Consunji group, with its pool of engineers, can add value to Atlas in the form of construction and earth-moving expertise,” said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc.

“It’s the kind of expertise that can be bought by Atlas even without bringing them into the board. But if there’s someone with that expertise willing to invest, then it’s good,” he added.

For its part, Atlas’ subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC)—the country’s largest exporter of copper concentrate that operates the Toledo mine in Cebu province—yielded 21 percent more copper in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011.

CCC plans to boost its output to around 60,000 tons per day by 2013 from the present production capacity of 40,000 tons per day.—Doris C. Dumlao