Lucio Tan firm to get 25% stake in Balabac

Saturn Holdings Inc., a member company of the Lucio Tan Group, has executed a formal agreement to take in 25 percent of the shares of the publicly-listed Balabac Resources & Holdings Co. Inc. for an aggregate value of P1.231 billlion.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Balabac corporate secretary Rolando del Castillo said the closing of the deal is still subject to an exemption from the tender offer rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with the increases in its capital stock to P5 billion.

The agreement also requires Balabac to wipe out its deficit of P391.629 million and to cancel subscription receivables worth P55.463 million.

Saturn Holdings owns two percent of Tanduay Holdings Inc., the umbrella firm for Tan’s liquor businesses. It earlier replaced Round Peak Realty and Development Corp., another Tan-controlled company, in buying into Balabac.

Balabac was incorporated to primarily engage in oil exploration and mineral development projects but later, in 1997, diversified and changed its primary purpose to that of a holding company, making real estate development and oil exploration among its secondary purposes.

With joint venture partner Unioil, Inc., Balabac has formed the real estate company, B.U. Properties Corp., whose initial project, the Unioil Center, was completed in September 1996 with all 20 units sold to the market. It is a first class nine-story office condominium building strategically located at the Madrigal Business Park in Ayala Alabang.

Presently, 100 percent of the company’s oil exploration-related assets and service contracts were transferred to Phoenix Energy Corp., another oil exploration company wherein Balabac has 38.4-percent interest. – Conrado Diaz Jr.