PICOP boosts capital stocks, plans Indonesia, Malaysia projects

PICOP boosts capital stocks, plans Indonesia, Malaysia projects

MANILA (AFP): Newly-privatized Paper Industries Corp. of the
Philippines (PICOP) said it was boosting its capital stock by 361
percent to 6.1 billion pesos (US$214.28 million) and was planning
projects in Indonesia and Malaysia.

PICOP, one of the largest integrated wood-based groups in
Southeast Asia and the largest paper and timber product producer
in the country, is controlled by a consortium involving Filipino
and Singaporean investors.

The consortium acquired 72 percent PICOP from the government
for$ 86.23 million in February.

PICOP converted 2.5 billion pesos of mortgage bonds, part of
its total liability of 4.5 billion pesos, into equity to enable
the company to retool its plywood mills, modernize its paper
mills and boost production of its southern Philippine operations.

Chairman Eduardo Arroyo told reporters after a stockholders
meeting late Tuesday it was planning to set up an 800 million
peso processing plant this year to make use of the vast forests
of Indonesia and Malaysia.

The company will also enter into a joint management contract,
in which PICOP will provide the technology to manufacture higher
value paper and timber products, he added.

He would not name the company's would-be partners and did not
say where the processing plant would be set up.

"We feel now that there will be strong regional trade in the
area," he said, citing President Fidel Ramos's promotion of an
East Asian Growth Area to promote increased economic ties with
contiguous areas of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines.

"Joint venture agreements will be profitable," Arroyo said.