Local firms should save Hanjin – business group
Credit to Author: TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD| Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:01:08 +0000
Filipino firms should be the ones taking over the Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Philippines instead of foreign companies, the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CPPI) said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Jose Luis Yulo, CPPI president said, “Shipbuilding is a national interest and a national security issue, given that we are an islands nation.”
“Foreign expertise can be harnessed as consultants or managers with a program to teach and support Filipino skills in shipbuilding,” Yulo said
Yulo also asked the government, banking institutions and capital markets to gear towards supporting local firms eyeing to takeover the troubled shipping company.
Last month, Hanjin filed for a voluntary corporate rehabilitation as it was reportedly indebted to five major Philippine banks amounting to P412 million. It also reportedly owed $900-million from creditors in South Korea.
Among the local creditor banks areLand Bank of the Philippines, BDO Unibank, Inc., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it would help Hanjin acquire funding by attracting investors to takeover, with two Chinese firms expressing interest last month.
Meanwhile, the CCPI president supported the interest of tycoon Enrique Razon of listed port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) to invest in Hanjin.
Reports said Razon saw “some potentials” in Hanjin as the shipbuilder has an infrastructure that could be developed further.
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