SMC top shareholder sells P1.1-B stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Food-to-power conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said its biggest shareholder Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. had sold nine million common shares valued at P1.1 billion.

San Miguel corporate information officer Ferdinand Constantino said the shares were crossed at the Philippine Stock Exchange Thursday at a price of P119.12 each.

The company’s stocks closed at P123.1 Thursday and fell to P120 yesterday.

San Miguel did not disclose the buyer of the shares.

 Based on a recent filing with securities regulators, Top Frontier owned 1.22 billion common shares equivalent to a 36.67-percent stake in San Miguel as of Sept. 30, 2011.

Top Frontier is 49 percent owned by San Miguel itself as represented by its president Ramon S. Ang while 51 percent is controlled by an investor group that includes former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin, his nephew Eric Recto (who is also president of Petron Corp.) and businessmen Iñigo Zobel and Joselito Campos.

Top Frontier likewise holds the option to buy an additional 493.37 million shares in San Miguel from tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. for P37 billion. It entered into a share option deal with 44 corporate shareholders of San Miguel – mostly related to Cojuangco – involving 476.72 million A shares and 16.65 million B shares at a price of P75 apiece. The option can be exercised until November 2012.

The courts have earlier declared Cojuangco as the owner of the San Miguel shares after years of dispute. The government previously claimed ownership of the shares, alleging that Cojuangco used illegally acquired money from coconut farmers during the Marcos regime to buy into San Miguel.