BIZ BUZZ: Villar’s next bet
The Villar Group is eyeing yet another business to add to its cart, possibly making it this company’s last hope.
We’re talking about Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (Pasar), which Bloomberg reported to be up for sale.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining firm Glencore Plc’s copper refinery had long been struggling, mainly due to low processing fees in the smelting industry.
Glencore has been exploring the sale of Pasar and its Leyte refinery, which stores copper concentrates from Australia, Indonesia and South America, since “at least late last year,” Bloomberg said.
“[S]melters have been reeling from a collapse in the fees they get from miners as there’s too much refining capacity fighting for not enough feedstock,” it added.
The Villar Group has yet to confirm the report, but it’s important to note that this isn’t Manny Villar’s mining debut.
The real estate mogul and the Philippines’ richest man currently owns St. Augustine and Copper Ltd., which began seeking potential foreign partners for the King-king copper-gold project in Davao de Oro province.
It is unclear whether he has found an investor for the $2-billion mine site.
Who knows? Maybe it will push through just in time for the Glencore deal.
