NEWSFLASH

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BRUNEI BUYS TROUBLED CEBU SEAWEED PLANTS

Cebu City, Dec. 31, 1997 - Shemberg chief executive officer Benson Dakay, father of the country's seaweed industry, is selling some subsidiaries to a Brunei firm sue to "the credit- wrenching business environment triggered by the sharp decline of the peso."

Dakay is selling Shemberg Biotech Corp in Carmen, Cebu and Shemberg Food Ingredients Corp. in the Mactan Export Processing Zone. The P623-million Biotech plant, Shemberg's first fully automated refined carrageenan facility, was built in 1991 with funding assistance from the Asian Development Bank, London's Commonwealth Corporation and DEG of Germany.

The buyer, Semuan Holdings, is the trading arm of the Brunei government. It plans for the Cebu facilities to be transferred to Brunei, with Shemberg as manager and operator of the plants.

Despite their pending sale, Dakay continues to operate the plants.

"We have to sustain our operations in he midst of a tight credit situation and source a solid working capital for our operations," Dakay explained.

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