Phinma Corporation’s construction unit, Phinma Construction Materials Group (CMG), is investing some PHP500 million to put up an insulation panel factory in Pampanga.

In a press conference following Phinma’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City Tuesday, Phinma CMG president and chief executive officer Eduardo Sahagun said the insulation panel factory will have a capacity of producing 1 million square meter of insulation panels annually.

Sahagun said this project of Phinma CMG could be the biggest insulation panel factory in the country.

He added the output of the insulation panel manufacturing facility will primarily cater to cold storage facilities with the increasing demand from this sector, as well as other sectors such as housing, hospitals and data centers, among others.

Phinma CMG vice president for insulated panels division Danielle del Rosario said the new business will be named as Union Insulated Panel Corp.

“We look at it a certain way to protect businesses and people from the extreme effects of climate change. We will be providing effective thermal insulation and structurally efficient building materials that can reduce energy consumption and construction timelines through single component sandwich panels,” she said.

Del Rosario said these panels will be made with a flame-resistant rigid foam interior encased between exterior skins made of steel.

She added the new factory will be a highly automated manufacturing facility.

Sahagun said the budget for the insulation panel factory is part of Phinma’s capital expenditure (capex) for the year of PHP3 billion.

He said the listed firm has also earmarked its capex in expanding its school footprint in the Philippines and Indonesia, while also growing its property and hospitality ventures.

Phinma Education Philippines country chief Christopher Tan said the business unit is in talks with prospective partners in Surabaya and Bogor in Indonesia to operate Phinma schools in these areas.

Tan said the Phinma Education in Indonesia currently has 2,000 students following its acquisition of two colleges in Kerala, south of Jakarta.

He said the company sees enormous opportunities in education sector in the neighboring country with its population more than double than the Philippines.

“We’re at least looking at around 200,000 (students) over 10 years in Indonesia,” he added.

Meanwhile, both property and hospitality units of the conglomerate will also push for expansion this year.

Sahagun said the company did not cease to expand in the past years despite the challenging business climate brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. (PNA)