Flour manufacturer gets P998-M loan from BDO
BDO UNIBANK, Inc. is lending Mabuhay Interflour Mill, Inc. almost P1 billion to partly finance the manufacturer’s expansion plans in the country.
The Sy-led bank said in a statement on Tuesday that the flour manufacturer has entered into a P998-million, seven-year loan deal with BDO to partly finance the construction of its flour mill within a 5.2-hectare property in Subic Bay Gateway Park Phase II.
Mabuhay Interflour Mill is the Philippine subsidiary of Interflour Group Pte Ltd. of Singapore, one of the largest flour millers in Asia. In November, the flour manufacturer announced it is investing $30 million in a flour mill in Subic Bay Freeport, as part of its expansion in Southeast Asia.
The project, which is expected to be completed early next year, involves the milling of wheat into food flour for direct sale to consumers, distributors and retailers in the country, as well as for the export market.
The flour mill has a capacity to produce 500 metric tons of flour per day, which may be doubled to 1,000 metric tons by 2019, the listed bank said in its statement.
“The investment of Interflour in the Philippines is a welcome development. BDO supports initiatives by conglomerates that generate employment opportunities in fast- growing business districts like Subic,” BDO Senior Vice-President and Head of Institutional Banking Group - Wholesale Lending and International Desks Edward G. Wenceslao was quoted as saying.
With an estimated 25,000 bakeshops operating in the country, Interflour considers the Philippines as an important market in the region.
“We welcome the support of BDO and thank them for the cooperation in working with us to develop local employment and more affordable flour for the Philippine community in general,” Interflour Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Greg Harvey said.
Interflour Group is one of the biggest flour milling companies in the world with nine flour mills in operation — eight in South East Asia and one in Turkey — and has a wheat milling capacity of 6,500 tons per day.
Its entry into the Philippines was established in June 2014 through the signing of a 50-year lease contract with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Meanwhile, BDO Unibank grew its net income by a tenth last year to reach an all-time high of P25.055 billion from 2014’s P22.828 billion.