First Pacific wants 100% of Del Monte Pacific

Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. wants to acquire fully Singapore-listed Del Monte Pacific Ltd., FPC managing director Manuel Pangilinan said.

"Our ideal position is to get 100 percent. It’s really up to them… the premium was about 80 percent when we made the offer. I don’t know now what the current prices are but what I am saying is that we want 100 percent," said Pangilinan, concurrently group chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). FPC owns around 25 percent of the country’s biggest telecommunications company.

First Pacific Brands Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of FPC, hopes to complete its takeover of Del Monte by Dec. 14. The parent company has scheduled a shareholders’ meeting on Dec. 9 to decide whether they want to acquire an initial 40 percent of Del Monte from the Italian food firm Cirio group.

FPC has signed an agreement with Cirio and Del Monte Holdings Ltd. for the combined 40-percent block in Del Monte. The Cirio Del Monte group is presently under extraordinary administration, which is similar to Chapter 11 under the US Bankruptcy Code.

First Pacific is required to make a mandatory tender offer for the 22-percent stake held by the Lorenzo family through Macondray & Co. Inc. and the balance held by the public.

"It will really depend on the level of acceptance we get," Pangilinan said in an interview when asked whether he can acquire 100 percent of Del Monte.