San Miguel Corp. said its power generation arm plans to sell 21.4 million shares in Manila Electric Co. to Metro Pacific Investment Corp., potentially reshaping the ownership mix of the country’s largest power distributor.
San Miguel said wholly owned subsidiary San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. received board authority to sell part or all of its 45.6 million Meralco shares and negotiate the terms of the transaction, including the purchase price.
The 21.4 million shares represent a 1.9 percent stake in Meralco and are currently valued at around P8.9 billion based on the utility’s market price.
The planned sale would come little more than a year after SM Global Power finally completed its acquisition of the Meralco shares from Land Bank of the Philippines, ending a 17-year wait for a deal originally signed in 2008.
The agreement covered about 46.6 million Meralco shares at P90 apiece, but was stalled by graft complaints and legal disputes involving LandBank officials. The transaction was eventually cleared following a 2022 Court of Appeals ruling and the dismissal of related charges by the Sandiganbayan in 2024.
SM Global Power completed the acquisition through special block sales on the Philippine Stock Exchange in mid-2025.
The company subsequently held 45.6 million Meralco shares. If the proposed sale proceeds as planned, SM Global Power would retain about 24.2 million shares, or roughly 2.1 percent of Meralco.
The transaction would add to Metro Pacific’s exposure to the power distribution business through an incremental stake in Meralco, while allowing San Miguel to monetize part of an investment it only recently acquired.
Along with the Meralco stake sale, the board of SM Global Power has also approved the redemption of its 5.45 percent Senior Perpetual Capital Securities, which were issued in June 221 to raise USD600 million.
The companies did not disclose the proposed purchase price or other commercial terms.
The sale would provide San Miguel liquidity while retaining a substantial Meralco position. The planned acquisition would deepen MPIC’s interest in one of the Philippines’ most strategically important utilities.
