Thread: American firm buys Philippine shipyard on ex-US base by South China Sea

The U.S.-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management has completed its purchase of the Subic Bay shipyard in the Philippines, laying to rest concerns of a possible sale to interested Chinese companies.


“The completion of the Subic Bay shipyard will redound to benefits for the country, bring jobs to the local communities, increase economic activity, and at the same [time] fortify our strategic security measures,” Jose Manuel Romualdez, Philippine ambassador to the United States, said in a news release Thursday.


“Working with the United States on this project will help ensure that we are able to protect our interests not only for our country but the whole region,” he said.


The sale of the former U.S. Navy base is an “important example of U.S.-Philippine public-private partnership,” Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said in a tweet Wednesday.


“Great to see the completion of the acquisition of Hanjin shipyard in Subic Bay by a U.S.-based firm,” he wrote.


The date and purchase price of the sale were not included in the news release. Agila Naval Inc. will operate the shipyard, according to reports last month in Philippine media. Further information on Agila was unavailable Friday.


Reuters reported last month that Cerberus was buying the shipyard for $300 million. Cerberus did not respond Thursday to a request for comment from Stars and Stripes.


Several Chinese companies were among eight parties that expressed interest in 2019 in buying the shipyard, which holds strategic importance because of its deep-water port and proximity to the contested South China Sea.


The Subic Bay shipyard had been operated by Hanjin Philippines, a South Korean firm that defaulted on loans of $1.3 billion in 2019, according to Reuters. Hanjin’s shipbuilding activity employed about 20,000 workers.

Cerberus, based in New York, has approximately $55 billion in assets in credit, private equity and real estate, according to its website. A potential partner in the deal, Australian shipbuilder Austal, was not involved in the final agreement and is no longer a tenant at the shipyard, according to a March 9 report in Maritime Executive.


The purchase by a U.S. firm represents a full circle in American-Philippine military relations.


The U.S. occupied the Philippines in 1898 after defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War.


Naval Base Subic Bay and the nearby Clark Air Force Base became key strategic hubs for the U.S. through the end of combat operations in the Vietnam War in 1973.


A growing tide of Philippine opposition to America’s military presence — as well as the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 that decimated Clark — led the U.S. to leave both bases by the end of 1992.


The two countries, however, have continued bilateral training exercises in the decades since then.


That military relationship has become more crucial in recent years as the Philippines and China have clashed over competing claims of sovereignty on portions of the South China Sea.

US firm purchases former Navy shipyard in Subic Bay, Philippines | Stars and Stripes

Cue more chinky whining.

Originally Posted by misskit

Naval Base Subic Bay and the nearby Clark Air Force Base became key strategic hubs for the U.S. through the end of combat operations in the Vietnam War in 1973.

Not to mention a most desirable port call for us horney USN swabs.

OLONGAPO in the 60’s and 70’s | Tales of an Asia Sailor

^You'll understand.

Indeed I do!

I missed a trip to Subic in the early 80's to work on a ship due to the lack of the proper security clearance. I can't imagine it being much different than Pattaya though.

^The Philippines in the 80's (well Olongapo and Angeles City) made anything I've ever seen in Pattaya look like a Church picnic! It was completely lawless, and the night-life was off the hook

Happy days

Originally Posted by Headworx

It was completely lawless, and the night-life was off the hook

...so, how was it different from Pattaya then? Bigger ping pong balls? German shepherds instead of dachshunds? Single digit pre-teens for sale? Slimier mama sans? Filthier short-time rooms?...

Originally Posted by Headworx

^The Philippines in the 80's (well Olongapo and Angeles City) made anything I've ever seen in Pattaya look like a Church picnic! It was completely lawless, and the night-life was off the hook

I lived there in the eighties and get what you are saying, Pattaya was a sleepy seaside village back then, PI was the best party town in the world, Thailand took over that honor late eighties, early nineties

Originally Posted by tomcat

...so, how was it different from Pattaya then?

It was genuine wild West with no laws whatsoever to keep things in check, well their were laws of course but nobody took any notice of them. Under-age workers in the bars were rampant, you could have someone knocked for cheap with no fear whatsoever of ever facing repercussions if you knew the right people, if you wanted to carry or keep a gun in your car/home you did (bought from the cops obviously), everything was 24hrs as there was another shift finishing on the Bases several times a day (you could wake up at 06:30am and head for the Gogo bars if you wanted to), the gauntlet of local Sparrow gangs randomly shooting someone through the head was very real (more so if you had a crew-cut and American accent), and while I've seen more than my fair share of debauchery in Pattaya I've never seen it on anything like the scale of what went on there back then.

Two words sum it up, Nipa Hut. If you know you know.

Originally Posted by tomcat

...so, how was it different from Pattaya then? Bigger ping pong balls? German shepherds instead of dachshunds? Single digit pre-teens for sale? Slimier mama sans? Filthier short-time rooms?...

Full of Americans.

^There was that of course. I don't know how Subic stacked up against the rest of their Navy Bases around the world, but Clark was the largest Air Force base they had anywhere outside of America at that time. No idea how many foreigners in total worked on that Base but the number would have been massive, as was the entertainment industry outside the gates that catered to them.

"Baloot salesmen in the morning."

Well good! Hopefully we will be seeing a few more American faces and joints in Barrio Barretto. It was all looking a bit sad and run down when I was last there, a couple of years back.

Did you explore the delights of Ermita back in the day norton? Some fond memories there.
Both Olongapo and Ermita fell victim to that unique Filipino ability to stuff things up, sigh.

Spent a lot of time in the PI but oddly never got to Manila but heard Ermita was like a hiso Oolongapo.

I did enjoy that Blue Rock floating bar. Mind you there were no Americans there.

^What year was that? American retires would certainly make up the highest number of local Expats in the Subic area, followed by Australian Expats and tourists I would think.

I haven't been there for about 5 or 6 years but know the Blue Rock very well going all the way back to when Thommo first took it over in the 90's, but had always stayed at the Wild Orchid across the road since it opened as the owner of the Orchid hotel group was a close friend.

Barretto actually seemed more aussiefied than amerkin when I was last there, I reckon 2.5 years ago. Maybe the retirees avoid the 'main drag' area, which was looking pretty bedraggled.

Originally Posted by Norton

...but heard Ermita was like a hiso Oolongapo

Not a bad way to put it from whoever told you that! Ermita was really just a strip of bars along M.H. Del Pilar, they had all the fancy neon and whatnot going on that didn't exist in Olongapo or Angeles at the time and the bars were most definitely more upper-class. No dirt floors and shitty jukeboxes playing chicken-'kickin music down there! But, everything was pretty much three or more times the price and a lot of the regulars/Expats would be dressed like they were going to business meetings when they went out for a drink (slacks, leather shoes, button down shirt sort of thing). Angeles was way more laid back, and Olongapo was even more laid back still.

Sadly, never done Subic in it's heyday- but back in the day, Ermita (MH bel Pilar/ Mabini) made the then Pattaya look like, well... maybe Subic. It was a real fun place, and I'll take your word on the price- but it still seemed damn cheap to me. I considered it the best 'funtown' in Asia back then.

Originally Posted by sabang

Maybe the retirees avoid the 'main drag' area, which was looking pretty bedraggled.

I would imagine they do. There's a ton of retired Americans there, many of whom were stationed at Subic at some time or another and they're married living quite lives. But the biggest bar owner in Barrio Barretto is American, and they're his core client base.

Originally Posted by sabang

It was a real fun place, and I'll take your word on the price- but it still seemed damn cheap to me.

Compared to Four-Floors or The Wanch it was cheap, compared to where my house and stomping grounds were about 80km North it was extortionate

Manila was ok for a night or two when flying in/out to work, but it wasn't for me. But, I can fully understand why others liked it so much.