Meralco chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, whose group is the single-largest stockholder in the electricity distribution and power generation giant, said the potential purchase of shares was taken up during their recent board meeting.
“We discussed that in the board meeting earlier but no decision. We’re just looking at options. It really depends on what San Miguel’s plans are,” Pangilinan said in response to a question during their quarterly press briefing on Monday.
He added that he has yet to raise the matter with Ang.
“I have not spoken to him about it. It’s probably too early to do that,” he said.
When the long game pays off
SMC, through its power generation arm SMC Global Power Holdings, has completed the long-delayed purchase of a 3.8 percent stake, or 43.23 million Meralco shares, from Land Bank of the Philippines.
The deal, which had been tied up in court for 17 years, was finally cleared, allowing it to proceed at the original 2008 price of P90 per share, valuing the purchase at P3.9 billion.
With Meralco shares now trading near P538, almost 500 percent higher today, the stake could deliver a windfall gain of about P19 billion if SMC decides to sell.
Tender offer rule?
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, both led by Pangilinan, currently own a combined 48 percent of Meralco.
Buying SMC’s full 3.8 percent stake would raise their holdings to around 51.8 percent, crossing the 50 percent threshold that triggers a costly mandatory tender offer to buy out minority shareholders.
SMC is currently Meralco’s fourth-biggest stockholder after MVP’s group, the Gokongwei family-led JG Summit Holdings (26 percent) and the Lopez family’s First Philippine Holdings Corp. (4 percent).
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
