Philodrill eyes P192M from rights offer

 Listed oil firm Philodrill Corp. expects to raise P192 million from a stock rights offering aimed at paying down debt and funding exploration activities.

Bulk of the proceeds, or P110.8 million, will go to repayment of debt while P61.5 million will be used to fund the drilling of two wells in the Sulu area — SC 41 and SC 14C Galoc.

To facilitate its stock rights offering of one share for every four shares held, Philodrill raised its authorized capital stock to P2 billion from P1.55 billion.

The company’s board recently approved the change in Philodrill’s primary purpose from a holding company to a petroleum exploration and development company to reflect the current and future business focus and direction of the company.

Philodrill had forecast a net income of P249.4 million by the end of 2007, if based on an average $65 per barrel oil price and P419.8 million if based on an average $80 per barrel oil price.

Incorporated in 1969, Philodrill is one of the pioneers in the country’s oil exploration industry, having successfully participated in the drilling of several oil discoveries in the offshore Palawan area, the revenues from which fueled the company’s steady growth and profitability.

Towards the mid-1980s, as the company’s petroleum revenues started to taper off, a strategic decision was made to diversify out of purely petroleum operations into the emerging growth areas of the economy. This move was intended not only to accelerate the company’s growth and bring greater profitability, but also to provide a prudent counterbalance to the relatively high-risk attendant to the oil exploration.

The company consequently made investments in property development, manufacturing, infrastructure, mining and financial services sectors, while retaining its active involvement in local oil exploration through its selective participation in the various consortia whose exploration contract areas cover the more prospective areas of the country.

Philodrill’s petroleum projects cover production and exploration areas in offshore Palawan and South Sulu Sea and onshore Mindoro under various service contracts (SC), and geophysical survey and exploration contracts (GSEC) with the government through the Department of Energy.

On property development, the company holds a 5.08 percent interest in EDSA Properties Holdings Inc., the 78.72-percent owner of the Shangri-La Plaza Commercial Complex and 23.52 percent owner of KSA Realty Corp.

In the mining sector, Philodrill holds equity interests in Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp. (2.21 percent), Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp. (2.08 percent) and United Paragon Mining Corp. (0.44 percent)

Philodrill also owns a 4.65 percent interest in Anglo Philippine Holdings. Anglo Philippine Holdings holds an 18.6 percent interest in MRT Holdings Inc. which operates the EDSA Metro Rail Transit III project, and has a 15.79 percent stake in MRT Development Corp., which is developing the 16-hectare North Triangle property.