San Miguel Corp. (SMC), one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, announced that its power unit, San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., has finally acquired a long-contested 3.9 percent stake in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), nearly two decades after first attempting the deal.
San Miguel Global Power purchased 43.23 million Meralco shares from the Land Bank of the Philippines at P90 per share, the price agreed upon in 2008. That’s a steep discount from Meralco’s closing price of P545 per share on Wednesday.
The deal’s completion follows years of legal hurdles, including a graft case involving the former president and CEO of the state-owned bank Gilda Pico, along with former vice president for the local currency department, Carel Halog.
In December 2023, the Supreme Court ruled there was no probable cause to pursue prosecution in the anti-graft court, Sandiganbayan. Other pending legal issues were resolved after the high court’s decision, clearing the way for the transaction to proceed.
The long-delayed share acquisition gives San Miguel a minority 3.9 percent stake in Meralco, the country’s largest electricity distributor by sales.
The conglomerate has not yet disclosed any specific plans for the stake, although in 2013 it unloaded a 27.1 percent stake in Meralco after losing a battle for control of the power firm.
San Miguel sold that major Meralco stake to JG Summit Holdings Inc. for roughly USD2 billion—funds that were later funneled into San Miguel’s major infrastructure investments. The sale comes after San Miguel’s unsuccessful bid to gain control of Meralco, which ultimately went to the business group led by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan.
