Business World Online
Posted on September 25, 2013 12:22:53 AM
SAN MIGUEL CORP. yesterday said it was in talks to sell more shares in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) as the country’s most diversified conglomerate seeks to raise cash for several infrastructure ventures.
Meralco services Metro Manila and nearby provinces. -- BW File Photo
San Miguel President Ramon S. Ang told Reuters the company was in talks with holding firm JG Summit Holdings, Inc. to sell a stake in Meralco, the country’s biggest electricity retailer with a market value of around $7.2 billion.
He declined to specify the size of the stake but San Miguel owns 27.1% of the Manila-listed power retailer. There was no immediate reply from JG Summit when asked about the issue.
Meralco’s biggest single shareholder is Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., which is owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd.
Beacon had said it was not keen to buy more shares in Meralco because that could trigger a general share offer. The group now owns nearly 50% of the power firm.
In July, San Miguel sold a 5.7% stake in Meralco, raising $400 million to fund expansion plans that include beefing up of other power assets.
San Miguel’s shares, which had risen to their highest in almost five months on market speculation that it was seeking to sell a stake in Meralco, closed 5.6% higher yesterday. Meralco and JG Summit ended largely steady.
San Miguel, which started as a brewery more than a century ago, has aggressively expanded over the last four years into power, airlines, mining, telecoms, oil refining and distribution, and infrastructure. -- Reuters source
He declined to specify the size of the stake but San Miguel owns 27.1% of the Manila-listed power retailer. There was no immediate reply from JG Summit when asked about the issue.
Meralco’s biggest single shareholder is Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., which is owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd.
Beacon had said it was not keen to buy more shares in Meralco because that could trigger a general share offer. The group now owns nearly 50% of the power firm.
In July, San Miguel sold a 5.7% stake in Meralco, raising $400 million to fund expansion plans that include beefing up of other power assets.
San Miguel’s shares, which had risen to their highest in almost five months on market speculation that it was seeking to sell a stake in Meralco, closed 5.6% higher yesterday. Meralco and JG Summit ended largely steady.
San Miguel, which started as a brewery more than a century ago, has aggressively expanded over the last four years into power, airlines, mining, telecoms, oil refining and distribution, and infrastructure. -- Reuters source
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