MANILA (UPDATE) - Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Phoenix Petroleum is selling some of its assets so that it can pay its debts, the company disclosed to the stock market on Tuesday.

Phoenix said it was ready to negotiate for “possible transfer, sale, mortgage or disposition of certain corporate properties, assets, or investments as may be necessary.”

The company said this was “part of its debt management and funding activities.”

The independent oil firm has yet to release its full-year financial report, but booked a net loss of over P95 million from January to September last year as the pandemic cratered fuel demand.

In a disclosure last December, Phoenix Petroleum President Henry Albert Fadullon said 2020 was a turbulent year but the company was “making headways in our engagements with creditors.”

The company's share price closed 2.38 percent lower at the end of Tuesday's trading.

Phoenix’s disclosure comes just days after Uy’s Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Corp also sold off its stake in shipping and logistics firm 2GO to the SM Group.

Chelsea disclosed that the proceeds from the sale of its stake in 2GO will be used to pay the loan used for the acquisition of the shares in the shipping and logistics firm.

Uy, who is ranked 22nd in Forbes list of richest Filipinos, lords over a business empire spanning petroleum, oil and gas, shipping, logistics, real estate, education, gambling and telecoms.

• Petrol, cakes and telecoms: Dennis Uy's business expansion continues

Uy’s DITO Telecommunity recently launched commercial services in Visayas and Mindanao, but does not expect to turn a profit until the fifth year of operations.

ERRATUM: An earlier version of this story said Phoenix lost P95 billion from January to September. We regret the error.