MANILA - Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said Tuesday it was on the prowl for big natural resource investments abroad as part of an increasingly aggressive expansion outside of its core brewing business.

"It does not matter where, as long as it is viable and is a big company with big volume, we will be interested in investing in coal companies, (and) for oil and gas," San Miguel president and chief executive Ramon Ang told AFP.

In an interview, Ang said Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage company was also looking to invest in more major infrastructure projects in the Philippines, such as airports.

Ang has over the past year led the domestically listed firm's diversification drive with multi-billion-dollar acquisitions in local power firms, oil refining and retailing, telecommunications and toll roads.

San Miguel last month won the right to sell the output of the country's largest coal-fired power plant, with a capacity of 1,000-megawatts, in Sual and bought a 620-megawatt power plant on Manila Bay for a combined $1.085 billion.

The investments outside of its core brewing, food processing and packaging businesses offered high-growth opportunities and a hedge against economic downturns, according to Ang.

"You can't have all your eggs in one basket in case there's a downturn," he said.

Ang spoke enthusiastically about San Miguel's global ambitions, although he would not give any specific details about where the company was hoping to invest.

"We are leveraging left and right. I hope we can buy some good oil fields, gold mines or gas fields... something that will propel the company," Ang said.

San Miguel this year expressed interest in acquiring a stake in top Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro, but then pulled back from the deal, saying the stake offered was not big enough.