Abacus group eyes 80% stake in BatMan

Philippine Daily Inquirer online, June 18, 2010

PUBLICLY LISTED ABACUS Consolidated Resources and Holdings Inc. is eyeing an 80-percent stake in the $1.2-billion Batangas-Manila (BatMan 1) natural gas pipeline joint venture project with the government.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Abacus president Leonardo S. Gayao said the consortium, where Abacus is a member, wanted to be the equity owner of the project. The remaining 20 percent will be held by state-run Philippine National Oil Co.

Abacus formed a consortium with Sultan International Holdings, based in Abu Dhabi, and Saipem ENI of Italy to design, finance, construct, operate and maintain BatMan 1.

The group submitted an unsolicited proposal in December 2009 to enter into a joint venture with PNOC.

PNOC has already accepted Abacus’ proposal for purposes of negotiating the term of reference of the joint venture agreement in accordance with the guidelines provided by law, and which will be subjected to a Swiss challenge.

Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement where a government agency that has received an unsolicited bid for a public project or services may publish the bid and invite third parties to match or exceed the unsolicited proposal.

According to Abacus, the cost of the natural gas pipeline project is about $ 100 million while its other components such as processing plant and storage facilities for the liquefied natural gas amounted to $450 million. The power plant is expected to cost another $650 million. Amy R. Remo


Back to main news page