Metro Alliance's BPC gamble

摘要

Buying a moribund polyethylene plant -even on the cheap-seems to fly in the face of brutal commercial reality.Market analysts say the recent purchase of Bataan Polyethylene Corp(BPC)in the Philippines defies logic.Even the new owner,Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities(Manila),is downbeat on how it proposes to turn around the facility,which had been gathering dust since it was shut down in August 2001.Metro Alliance's chairman,Renato Magadia,was candid:'How do we make a profit? That's the US64m question.'Or,perhaps a USUS3m question.