MANILA, Philippines - The recent four percent increase in Metro Pacific’s stake in electric distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to 45 percent was a result of the group accumulating and buying shares from the market.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) president Jose Ma. Lim said in an interview they have been buying shares from the market, but was tightlipped as to whether or not these were the shares of businessman Eusebio Tanco of Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI).
When asked whether the four percent increase was a result of buying the shares of Tanco, MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan also kept mum.
As this developed, Pangilinan, also currently president of Meralco, emphasized that there is a need for additional capacity so that Meralco, which is going into power generation, could in the meantime put in a peaking plant in the coming months to help improve the power supply situation.
But Meralco is also developing, possibly a coal-fired 13-megawatt power plant, as part of its foray into power generation.
MPIC and PLDT Communications and Energy Ventures Inc. (PCEV) earlier announced that their joint venture, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings Inc., has signed an P11-billion finance facility in connection with Beacon’s acquisition of an additional four percent voting and economic interest in Meralco.
The facility was jointly arranged by First Metro Investment Corp. and PNB Capital & Investment Corp.
Lim, who is also president of Beacon, said the acquisition of an additional four percent voting and economic interest in Meralco further cements the group’s position in one of the best-run companies in the Philippines.
“I am grateful for the work put in by the joint lead arrangers of the finance facility and for the continued support of all the banks who participated in it. Beacon’s economic interest in Meralco is now 38.8 percent which taken together with PCEV’s direct holding gives the wider group 45 percent of Meralco,” Lim said.
Pangilinan, also PCEV chairman, said he is pleased that their shareholders will gain increased participation in the benefits of the hard work being put in by all the Meralco management to further enhance the business.
Meralco is the biggest electricity distributor in the Philippines. PCEV is a holding company whose primary asset is its holdings in Meralco, held both directly and indirectly through Beacon, while MPIC is the Philippines’ largest infrastructure investment management company.