How has the grande dame of Philippine mining companies fared since it was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange? It's now dipping its hands into another resource -- water.

Benguet Corp ventures into infra development

by Conrado M. Diaz 

The Philippine STAR, 11 October 2000, p. B-4

 Benguet Corp, the country's oldest mining company, has ventured into infrastructure development with a contract to explore and develop a water system for the Subic area.

 Benguet Corp assistant corporate secretary Reynaldo Mendoza told the Philippine Stock Exchange that the company signed last week a memorandum of agreement with Subic Water District "to study and develop various water sources in Subic, Zambales for the municipality's present and future water needs."

 "The agreement is one of various initiatives by Benguet Corp to foster private-public sector cooperation in natural resource development projects," he said.

 One of the largest gold and chromite producers, Benguet Corp has diversified into non-mining activities mainly through its subsidiary Benguet Management Corp as it goes through a rehabilitation program to settle its P1.46-billion debt.

 The company's present activities include real estate development project in the Itogon area, eco-tours and bottled water production. [Note: Benguet Corp once offered its open pits as water reservoirs for Baguio City.] It has also embarked on marketing its other products and services in engineering, construction, drilling, eco-tourism and reforestation.

 The company sought the nod of the Securities and Exchange Commission last year for a rehabilitation plan which would involve the selling of some of its non-performing assets and a restructuring of its debts over a period of 3 years.  Once the restructuring agreement gets approved, Benguet Corp will be able to maximize the value of some of its underperforming assets via joint ventures and anticipated sales.

 Benguet Corp recently forged a joint venture with Canada's Echo Bay Mines for the exploration of the Kingking copper mine in Mt. Province up to February 2002.

 Last July, Benguet Corp jumped over to the tech-heavy Nasdaq board in the US following its delisting at the main New York Stock Exchange on June 12.

Mendoza said with the advice of the NYSE, the company initiated the process to have its "B" shares listed at the National Association of  Securities Dealers Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.

 The NASD OTCBB is a regulated quotation service that displays real-time electronic market quotas, last sale prices and volume information in the OTC listed securities.  Stockholders may access stock quotations and trade the company's stock through any brokerage or online service.

Mendoza said the shift was due to its voluntary delisting at the NYSE after the business plan submitted by the company to bring itself into compliance with the NYSE's continuing listing standards was not accepted because it did not present a definitive action that would indicate compliance within the required 12-month timeframe.

The NYSE recently upgraded its listing standards by requiring listed companies to maintain both stockholders equity and global market capitalization of at least $50 million.