San Miguel Corp., one of the country’s largest conglomerates, has completed a long-delayed transaction to acquire 1.03 million shares of Manila Electric Co. from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Better known as Meralco, the listed energy company is the country’s largest power distributor by sales and owns power generation units.
The deal, originally approved in 2008 but delayed due to litigation, allowed San Miguel to purchase the shares at P90 apiece, amounting to a total of P93.1 million.
San Miguel nominated its subsidiary, SM Global Power Holdings Corp., to acquire the shares on its behalf. The transaction was executed through a special block sale at the Philippine Stock Exchange on August 22.
In a related transaction in July, San Miguel said SM Global Power purchased from Landbank 43.2 million shares of Meralco, also at P90 each.
With Meralco shares closing Tuesday at P546 each, the combined 3.9 percent stake of SM Global Power in Meralco is now worth P24.15 billion.
Given the size of the Meralco stake, it appears unlikely for San Miguel, which usually controls companies it invests in, will keep the power distributor’s shares unless it could raise the stake to a more substantial level.
