MANILA - Philippine food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. plans to invest as much as P35 billion ($750 million) in power, mining and other utilities, company officials said yesterday.

San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. said the company was eyeing power generation assets and the 12-year concession for the National Transmission Corporation.

"We may go up to 10 percent of our total assets ... that's about P35 billion or $750 million," Ferdinand Constantino, chief finance officer said at the annual shareholders meeting.

The company will team up with Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional to bid for the concession to operate the National Transmission Co. (Transco), said San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang told the meeting.

The government is due to offer a 25-year operating contract for Transco this year.

San Miguel will not change its focus from the beer, beverages and food that have been their mainstay for over a century, company officials said.

"These new businesses will be just a fraction of our total portfolio," Cojuangco said.

San Miguel will "act with caution in investing in industries such as power generation and transmission, water, mining and property," he said.

"We are particularly excited about the earnings potential of these new businesses. We are confident that we can extract highly attractive earnings that will significantly improve our aggregate group margins," he added

In the first quarter of 2007, San Miguel posted net profit of P4.33 billion, more than double the year earlier figure.*AFP

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