From today's Post-Courier
MRDC buys half of Hevi-Lift aviation
By JONATHAN FARAPO
THE Mineral Resource Development Company Limited (MRDC) announced a 50 per cent share acquisition of Hevi-Lift regional aviation yesterday making the trustee organisation a major shareholder of the company.
Managing director of MRDC Augustine Mano said MRDC’s strategic buy-in made it the new part owners of Hevi-Lift and equal partners in the company’s operations.
Interest groups represented in the Hevi-Lift share acquisition include Petroleum Resources Kutubu Limited (PRK), Petroleum Resources Gobe Limited (PRG), Petroelum Resources Moran Limited (PRM), and Mineral Resource Star Mountain Lim-ited(MRSM).
The deal was sealed last week after six months of negotiations. It will also introduce a training program to help Papua New Guineans to progress in various fields of the aviation industry.
Mr Mano said that the share acquisition also marked a milestone in the resource company’s history with three of the six board members of Hevi-Lift coming from MRDC. He said in a statement that MRDC welcomed the partnership with Hevi-Lift not only for the exciting business opportunities it presented but also for the future training and employment opportunities that would result from the investment.
“MRDC’s investment not only fits well with its objective to improve the value of the company through supporting the current minerals and resource development within the region but provides us with an opportunity to address the long term commitment to our stakeholders to provide employment and other business opportunities that the resource projects will provide,” he said.
Hevi-Lift’s managing director Paul Booij said MRDC’s investment in his company was an exciting development that would provide an opportunity to promote the human resource in PNG. He said the company sought to develop a comprehensive training program with their core business targeting the resource sector.
“We are very excited about this investment and are looking forward to being part of a new future,” he said.