MVP Group eyes Hacienda Luisita sugar mill

MANILA, Philippines - The group of top businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan is eyeing investment opportunities in the country’s sugar industry, including the possible acquisition of the sugar milling facility owned by the Aquino-Cojuangco clan, to complement the sugar business of First Pacific Co. Ltd.’s food unit Indofood, industry sources said.

Sought for comment, Pangilinan, First Pacific managing director and chief executive officer, said it’s a possibility but stressed that nothing has been finalized.

“It’s a possibility because it’s a sugar mill,” Pangilinan said when asked if his group is interested in acquiring Hacienda Luisita’s sugar milling facility.

“We’re interested in sugar in general because Indofood is in sugar plantation, sugar milling and refining,” he said.

However, he stressed that nothing is final yet.

“I think it’s a general interest but nothing has been finalized by anybody,” he said.

Sought for comment, Hacienda Luisita spokesperson Tony Ligon said: “As far as I know, (there are) no formal talks yet.”

Indofood, a subsidiary of First Pacific, is a total food solutions company with operations in all stages of food manufacturing – from the production of raw materials and their processing through to consumer products and distribution to retailers.

Hong Kong-based conglomerate First Pacific has said that for this year, it is continuously exploring investment opportunities across the region for its telecommunications, infrastructure, consumer food products and natural resources.

The sugar milling facility, Central Azucarera de Tarlac, is inside the Cojuangco clan’s Hacienda Luisita, a vast sugarcane plantation in Tarlac.

If Pangilinan’s investments in the sugar milling facility pushes through, it may add another development in the continuing saga involving both Hacienda Luisita and the sugar mill.

Hacienda Luisita farmers have been waiting for their Certificate of Land Ownership Award after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) should distribute 4,335 hectares of land to 6,296 farm worker beneficiaries.

Last month, the DAR announced that it has started distributing certified true copies of their land to the farmworker-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita.