Indie Eastern Petroleum prepares to list shares

Independent oil firm Eastern Petroleum Corp. is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) to fund its expansion and diversification plans, a company official said Tuesday. "We are thinking of holding it within [the next] two years," Eastern Petroleum chairman Fernando Martinez said. 　 The company is looking at an IPO because it now has the necessary track record to make a public offering. "Last year, we registered about 35-percent increase in sales," he said. 　 There are bullish sentiments over the performance of the stock market, Martinez said. 　 "We are considering it because we want to take advantage of the market," he said. Among the oil firms in the country, only the shares of Petron Corp. and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Corp. are listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange. Eastern Petroleum is slowly diversifying its business to include power and ethanol production, according to the company. Martinez said they plan to put up a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Bataan. Eastern Petroleum has around 40 retail stations mostly in Metro Manila. It plans to put up 10 more stations this year. — VS, GMA News