Marcventures to merge with 2 mining firms

MARCVENTURES Holdings, Inc. (MHI) is merging with two other mining companies, in a bid to expand its business and diversify its portfolio.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, Marcventures said its board of directors approved on Sept. 8 the plan to merge with Asia Pilot Mining Philippines Corp. (APMPC) and BrightGreen Holdings, Inc. (BHI), subject to approval of shareholders.

After the merger, Marcventures will be the surviving entity. It will issue 675 million shares in favor of APMPC shareholders, and 450 million shares in favor of BHI shareholders, or a total of 1.125 billion shares at a par value of P1 apiece.

APMPC owns Alumina Mining Philippines, Inc. (AMPI), which holds a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) covering 6,694 hectares in Motiong, San Jose De Buan and Wright in the Province of Samar. It also owns Bauxite Resources, Inc. (BARI), which holds an MPSA for 5,435 hectares in Gandara, San Jose de Buan and Wright, in Samar.

“The merge with APMPC will allow MHI to gain control of AMPI and BARI, whose mineral resource is Bauxite Ore — the main raw material of aluminum. The merger will allow MHI to grow its business, diversify its products and expand its source of income,” Marcventures said, adding that bauxite prices are more stable.

On the other hand, BHI owns BrightGreen Resources Corp. (BRC), which holds an MPSA covering approximately 4,860 hectares in Carrascal and Cantilan in Surigao del Sur.

Marcventures noted that BRC’s mining tenement is contiguous to the one owned by its subsidiary Marcventures Mining and Development Corp.

“(Marcventures’) objective in merging with BHI is to gain control of BRC in order to increase the nickel reserves of MHI’s nickel mines pursuant to a possible venture into nickel processing,” the company said.

For the first six months of 2017, Marcventures swung to a P24.14million profit, from a net loss of P192.59 million during the same period a year ago. This was driven by a 58% rise in revenues to P908.6 million during the January to June period, as it shipped higher volume of saprolite nickel ore during the period.

Shares in Marcventures slipped 1 centavo or 0.48% to close at P2.07 each on Monday. —