SMC sets tender offer for 9.4% of Petron stock

MANILA, Philippines - Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said yesterday it would make a tender offer for Petron Corp. shares held by minority shareholders, consisting approximately 9.4 percent of the country’s biggest oil refiner’s outstanding common stock.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, San Miguel said the tender offer for 884.125 million Petron common shares at a price of P6.85 per share is pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule on mandatory tender offer. 

Last week, San Miguel announced that its executive committee has authorized plans to exercise an option to acquire 40 percent of SEA Refinery Corp., which owns 4.7 billion common shares or approximately 50.1 percent of the issued and outstanding common stock of Petron.

SEA Refinery is a unit of British investment firm Ashmore Group which currently owns about 90.6 percent of Petron after it bought the government’s 40 percent interest for around $544 million in late 2008.

San Miguel paid the Ashmore Group $10 million early last year to acquire an exclusive option to buy into SEA Refinery. The agreement allows San Miguel to exercise the share purchase option within two years from Dec. 24, 2008.

Under the Securities and Regulation Code, a tender offer should be made after a company acquires 35 percent of a listed corporation within a 12-month period.

The 120-year old conglomerate has been moving away from its traditional food and drinks businesses and into power, mining, telecommunications, oil refining and infrastructure to fuel faster profit growth.

In another development, Petron said its board approved the establishment of a trading subsidiary in Singapore as well as the declaration of dividends on preferred shares. Also approved were the terms of the oil firm’s $350-million loan facility.