SteelAsia eyes P25-B new investments

STEELASIA Manufacturing Corp., the country’s largest steel producer, plans to invest an additional P25 billion to build two more facilities as it embarks on an aggressive expansion drive to meet market demand, and enter the local bourse within two years.

“We are capacity constrained today. On a per capita basis compared to our neighboring countries, we are much lower and we are filling it right now. Lots of demand is coming in, we haven’t seen the real Build, Build, Build (infrastructure program) which we believe will start to kick-in next year,” SteelAsia chairman and chief executive officer, Benjamin Yao said, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency on Monday.Company officials are also bullish in their outlook for the market in 2020 and over the next five to 10 years.

“We’ll be very busy (next year). In fact, last month, we hit record orders,” Yao added.

Rafael Hidalgo, Vice President for Business Development, said: “There is a lot of developments going in the Philippines today, just not the projects of the government --the Build, Build, Build and the infrastructure, but the private sector in general has a lot of confidence in the Philippines. So many of the private developers are investing in not just high rise but including these upcoming (projects like) the bridges, airports.”

Meanwhile, Hidalgo is optimistic about holding an initial public offering (IPO) within two years.