Insider Spotlight
In a statement on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, the power arm of San Miguel Corp. said the transaction with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. will unlock value from a Meralco investment whose original terms were set more than 17 years ago.
Why it matters
The deal gives SMGP room to recycle capital from a passive, long-held position into its power portfolio, including renewable energy assets that form part of its long-term growth strategy.
SMGP agreed in December 2008 to acquire the Meralco shares at P90 each, at a time when the utility’s shares were trading at about P57. The agreed price represented a substantial premium to the market price when the transaction was entered into.
The company said the original agreement also carried fixed-term interest on the purchase price, which added to the investment’s overall cost. The deal later became the subject of prolonged litigation, delaying the transfer of the shares for years.
By the numbers
SMGP said it did not receive dividends on the Meralco shares during the 17-year period because ownership had not yet been transferred.
The company estimates that dividends that would have accrued over that period reached about P13 billion. After factoring in the cost of money over the same period, SMGP placed the present value of those forgone dividends at about P21 billion.
The shares were transferred to SMGP only in 2025 after court rulings allowed the original agreement to proceed. SMGP said the P90-per-share price therefore reflected the terms agreed in 2008, rather than a valuation negotiated in 2025.
The big picture
The sale to MPIC is a separate transaction from the original 2008 purchase agreement and is being undertaken under current market conditions.
For SMGP, the divestment marks a shift away from a minority holding in the country’s largest power distributor and toward businesses where it can directly deploy capital, shape operations and expand its renewable energy pipeline. —Daxim L. Lucas | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
