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Phoenix Petroleum to acquire PHL’s major oil tanker fleet

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 July)– Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which has 160 fuel retail stations in Mindanao, is set to acquire the shipping fleet of its major stockholder, which is among the country’s top operators of petroleum tanker vessels.

In a company statement early this week, Phoenix Petroleum said its board of directors recently approved the acquisition of Chelsea Shipping Corporation to ensure priority and steady supply of petroleum products.

“Phoenix Petroleum will acquire 100 percent shares of stock of Chelsea via share-for-share swap to ensure control of product supply and minimize and eliminate potential risk of supply disruptions due to scarcity of tanker vessels,” the company said in its recent disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Dennis Uy, Phoenix Petroleum president and chief executive officer, said the “strategic acquisition” of Chelsea Shipping was consistent with its goal “of sustaining our competitiveness in the industry and fostering the long term success of our company.”

The company said that the purchase price “to acquire Chelsea is based on a 30-day Volume Weight Average Price from May 24 to July 5, 2012, or at P8.2931 per share.”

Payment mode would be “90 percent share swap and 10 percent cash to cover for payment of taxes.”

“The purchase price was negotiated using as basis an Independent Fairness Opinion Assessment submitted by Penta Capital Investment Corporation. The price is based on the midpoint valuation as recommended,” the company said.

It said the company would issue 171,250,799 common shares of its authorized but unissued capital stock valued approximately at P1.42 billion.

Chelsea Shipping Corp. is an existing stockholder of Phoenix Petroleum and wholly owned by Udenna Management & Resources Corp. (UMRC). Chelsea was incorporated in 2006 and operates 10 vessels in its fleet, two of which serve the regional trade route between Taiwan and the Philippines.

Chelsea owns the largest Philippine-registered oil tanker “M/T Chelsea Thelma” with 9,366-gross registered tonnage.

Phoenix Petroleum said that the shipping firm has a total fleet size of 19,561 gross tons, and belonged to the top five major petroleum tanker owners in the country.

Chelsea Shipping serves Phoenix Petroleum, Cebu Pacific Air, PTT Philippines, National Power Corp., Total Bulk Corp., Batangas Bay Carriers, Inc. and Marine Fuels Philippines, Inc. of the Magsaysay Group of Companies.

Chelsea also serves the bunker requirements of U.S. Navy vessels calling at Subic Bay, and transports coconut oil for companies in Cebu.

Phoenix said that Chelsea Shipping “is fully compliant with the International Safety Management System having upgraded from the National Safety Management System”.

It said that its acquisition would be submitted for the approval of stockholders at the Special Stockholders’ Meeting on September 6 this year. (MindaNews)

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