Kuwaiti company fails to buy Aboitiz Shipping

Remember a few months back when that Middle Eastern group based in Kuwait called KGLI-NM Holdings Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement to purchase the common shares of Aboitiz Transport System Corp. (ATSC) owned by the Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) and Aboitiz & Company (ACO) for $30 million on a deal that was to be finalized in the month of April? Well, we just got word that KGLI-NM just informed ATSC that it was not pushing through with the purchase, citing “current constraints in the debt markets” as its main reason for backing out of this deal.

Just when I thought that this was almost a “done deal” because KGLI-NM informed AEV and ACO only last March 31 that it was exercising its option under Section (5) of the Term Sheet dated Dec. 19, 2008. In fact, Sulficio “Jun” Tagud of bankrupt Negros Navigation Corp. (Nenaco) was already issuing many misleading statements, which made people believe that it was Nenaco that was buying into ATSC. Actually it was KGLI-NM that bought into Nenaco and KGLI-NM was buying into ATSC, not Nenaco!

But I guess some other financial problems suddenly surfaced and AEV and ACO have totally terminated this deal that was included in the Memorandum of Agreement that both parties signed on Sept. 23, 2008. You can say that the Aboitiz Group “gained” from this deal in the sense that the P100-million option money that KGLI-NM paid to AEV and ACO (that’s P82.88 million for AEV and P17.12 million for ACO) is now deemed forfeited under the Term Sheet agreement in just eight months of negotiations.

This is akin to someone asking to buy your car and putting an earnest money to make sure you don’t sell it to another buyer. But when you decide not to go through with the sale, you end up forfeiting your deposit. This ill-fated deal also reminded me of that other ill-fated deal years ago at Camp John Hay. This should be another “feather” in Tagud’s sordid past.

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Still on the Aboitiz Transport Group, last Tuesday night, three boxes of gun parts from M-14 rifles, a bolt assembly for an M-60 machine gun and assorted magazines for M-16 rifles suspected to be intended for the Abu Sayyaf terror group consigned to a Radzmal Arijan of Baliwasa, Seaside, Zamboanga City through 2GO forwarder shipped by a Vanessa R. Lopez were intercepted at the Aboitiz Transport Inc. (ATI) Terminal in South Harbor, Manila. Philippine Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo believes that these parts were needed by the terror group. According to Philippine Coast Guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, ATI personnel discovered these firearm parts through the scanner.

While I’m happy that ATI personnel are very adept into finding contraband such as these, this incident, however, tells us that the Abus are being resupplied from Metro Manila! Now who has spares for such firearms? My hunch is they came from the Logistics Command that keeps these spares. So an investigation by the AFP or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is in order so we can uncover those unscrupulous persons who may have links with the military (and with the Abus as well) for personal profit and gain… but to the embarrassment of the AFP and the Filipino people!

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Shame on those people who are still behind whistle-blower Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada because after all, he publicly admitted to his wrongdoing (yes, he was telling the truth). Therefore what did they expect, that the authorities wouldn’t go after him? We all seek justice and if no one has filed cases against the personalities that Lozada exposed in the ill-fated national broadband network (NBN) deal, then they should focus their attention and wrath on the Department of Injustice in the hope that these people would also be similarly arrested, detained and tried.

Surely by now, people understand and realize that our biggest problem is that… we don’t fix whatever is wrong with this country. Lest you already forgot, our slogan to oust the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship was “Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All!” Even Ninoy today hasn’t been given the justice due him… even if his wife, Corazon C. Aquino became the next President to follow the unlamented Marcos Dictatorship. So if Ninoy didn’t get his justice… don’t expect the rest of us to get justice, not in this country… or at least not with the present Constitution! I only pity Jun Lozada for playing with the powers-that-be where he ended up being abandoned for turning against the rich and powerful. But then the people he accused in the NBN deal have vehemently denied those accusations, while he confessed!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.