Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange showed a block of 43.23 million Meralco shares was sold at P90 each—an almost 90 percent discount from its previous day’s closing price.
Ang, chair and CEO of SMC, confirmed to InsiderPH that their group was the buyer of the shares from Landbank of the Philippines.
Meralco shares gained 0.74 percent to P544.50 each on Wednesday.
What happened before?
The deal was part of a long-delayed transaction involving Landbank’s 2008 sale of its 46.6 million Meralco shares to SMC Global Power Holdings (formerly Global 5000 Investments) at P90 each — a premium to the market price at that time — which had been tied up in graft cases for years.
The Sandiganbayan’s June 14, 2024 resolution acquitted ex-Landbank president Gilda Pico and vice president Carel Halog over the share sale, which paved the way for completion of the transaction.
The transaction brings Landbank in compliance with an April 17, 2024 Supreme Court resolution that ended long-standing legal dispute. That decision ordered the immediate enforcement of the share purchase agreement that was executed on Dec. 2, 2008.
During that time, SMC was racing to gain control of Meralco against Manuel V. Pangilinan’s First Pacific Group and Metro Pacific Investments.
Pangilinan eventually secured his stake with the backing of the Lopez family, while Ang later sold SMC’s holdings to the Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings in 2013.
Ang, who eventually became an ally of Pangilinan and secured a board seat in Metro Pacific, now marks his return as a significant Meralco shareholder for the first time in over a decade.
Analyst’s view: Big windfall for SMC
Nicky Franco, Abacus Securities research head, said the deal could represent a “huge windfall” for SMC should it sell the shares.
“[That’s] close to P20 billion, which is about 11 percent of the conglomerate’s market cap. RSA will probably flip it to get some breathing room in terms of overall debt burden/leverage,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ang remains mum on his next moves.
“Makes no sense though for him to hold on to the shares… he has better use for the cash,” Franco said.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
