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Thursday July 26, 8:20 PMManila's PNOC-EDC stake sale deadline "tight"-PNOCMANILA, July 26 (Reuters) - The Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) said on Thursday the state faces a race against the clock to meet its target of selling a remaining 40 percent stake in geothermal group PNOC-Energy Development by October.PNOC President Pedro Aquino said the government was unlikely to complete the sale of the 40 percent block by October, if a new financial adviser is hired. "That is too tight," Aquino told reporters. The government is relying on the stake sale to make up for poor tax revenues and to meet its 2007 budget deficit goal. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves told reporters on Thursday another PNOC-related firm, oil and gas explorer PNOC-EC , and a 40 percent stake in Petron Corp could be sold next year to help the government attain its goal of balancing the budget. But credit rating firms and the International Monetary Fund frown upon privatisation as a way to plug weak revenues, arguing that tax evasion and corruption need to be tackled. PNOC-EC has said it would be ready to sell by November a near 60 percent stake to raise around $500 million to fund exploration projects locally and abroad and pay down debt. PNOC-EDC, which generates power from volcanic hot springs, has raised more than $700 million from the listing of 40 percent of its shares in December and another 20 percent earlier this month. CLSA, the Asian brokerage of French lender Credit Agricole, managed both transactions and as it has already completed its mandate, the Philippines government has to re-tender for a new financial adviser. The country is hopes to earn about 40 billion pesos ($883 million) from the stake sale to help it meet its full-year deficit goal of 63 billion pesos, or 0.9 percent of gross domestic product. Overall, Manila wants to make over 100 billion pesos from privatising state stakes in companies in the second half. Aquino said the government will re-tender for the new adviser once it gets the PNOC board's go-ahead for the sale of the 40 percent block. The PNOC board would consider the sale next month. ($1= 45.32 pesos) (Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco) |
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