Udenna Corp., the listed holding company of Davao City-based businessman Dennis Uy, denied having invested in election automation provider Smartmatic and its Filipino partner Total Information Management to influence the outcome of the 2019 midterm elections.
“There is absolutely no truth to the allegations that the Udenna Group or its chairman, Mr. Dennis Uy, purchased a local IT company called TIM,” Udenna Group spokesman Adel Tamano said. Uy is known to be a close supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Tamano made the statement to refute claims that Uy had purchased TIM in order to affect the outcome of the local and national polls. TIM is said to be the local partner of Smartmatic which provided the machines for the automated elections.
“As law-abiding citizens who respect the democratic electoral process, we take these allegations very seriously. In fact, we have instructed our security and legal teams to investigate this matter, specifically on who are the persons making these ridiculous claims. We are considering filing civil and or criminal cases, if necessary to protect the reputation of Mr. Dennis Uy and the Udenna Group,” Tamano said.
The Udenna Group of Companies is present in multiple industries such as the distribution and retail of petroleum products under Phoenix Petroleum Philippines and shipping and logistics under Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp.
Udenna Development Corp. looks after the group’s real estate and property development, while Udenna Management & Resources is the centerpiece for environmental services, trading, and distribution.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Petroleum expanded its liquefied petroleum gas business by acquiring a 75-percent stake in Origin LPG Vietnam from Origin Energy of Australia and its local partner.
Phoenix said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that PNX Vietnam, a subsidiary of Phoenix Energy International Holdings Pte. Ltd. based in Singapore, completed the purchase of 75-percent shares of Original LPG Vietnam which it renamed to Phoenix Gas Vietnam.
Origin LPG Vietnam, based in Ho Chi Minh City, owns warehouse systems, ports, tanks and dedicated tank trucks with large storage capacity.
“We bought out Origin Australia and a portion of the local partner to give us a controlling stake of 75 percent,” Phoenix vice president for external affairs Raymond Zorrilla said.
Origin LPG Vietnam is a joint venture between Origin Energy of Australia and Industry Co. Ltd.
“We own 75 percent of formerly Ongpin Vietnam. Twenty-five percent is owned by the local partner. The business is at least the size of PLPI [Phoenix LPG Philippines Inc.],” Zorrilla said.
“We will leverage our LPG trading desk in Singapore to consolidate the volume of domestic LPG and Vietnam and provide scale,” Zorrilla said.
