By Lala Rimando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 11/05/2009 2:59 PM
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MANILA - The country’s most watched corporate war is expected to reach another milestone today.
The board of First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) is currently meeting to decide on the sale of their entire or half of their remaining 13.4% stake in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
The Lopez-led holding company is also expected to decide which among the bidders—Triratna Holdings Corp. and the PLDT Group—they will sell to.
Triratna, a group led by Henry Sy Jr., the son and namesake of the country’s richest man, made a P300-per-share offer on the 11th hour of an almost done-deal transaction between FPHC and PLDT Group.
The PLDT Group’s bid is only half of Triratna's at P150 per share.
The conglomerate led by executive Manuel V. Pangilinan had been widely considered as the beneficiary of the Lopezes’ Meralco stake sale because of a right-of-first-refusal rider in the allies’ deal sealed last March.
At the time, well-timed controlling alliance of FPHC and the PLDT Group enabled the 2 to ward off a potential power grab threat from another Meralco shareholder, San Miguel Corp., before the power retailer’s annual stockholders meeting last May.
PLDT’s right-of-first-refusal assures the groups all possible chances of acquiring FPHC’s stake in Meralco should the latter decide to sell.
Triratna is allied with the San Miguel Group, which had also been eyeing a controlling stake in the power retailer since it bought a direct 27% stake in October last year.
Sy Jr. used to sit in the board of San Miguel when his family still had an 11% stake in it. The family divested from San Miguel before the conglomerate diversified from its core food and beer businesses, and into high-yielding ventures, including power-related ones.
abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news department of ABS-CBN Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. ABS-CBN and Manila Electric Co. are both part of the Lopez Group of Companies.
...but we should not decide based on the present things only...please consider the future...the pros and cons...what i mean is...please...dont let any part of the business sector monopolized...it is exactly what is killing us when it comes to economy...
where are the guardians?
Submitted by LordNecro on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 20:22.I dont quite understand the happening inside your corporate world nor the mechanics it may result eventually .....
but wish this to result a better enhancement for the future of Philppine businesses.
Whatever, anyhow just do it and proceed further.
Submitted by fminus on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 17:23."Fly High with TESDA" Mag-aral ka, Wag maging Tambay Habambuhay
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