Aboitiz to sell 35% stake in Mindanao Container

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) is selling its 35 percent stake in Mindanao Container Co. (MCC) for P26.95 million, the company told the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday.

AEV said the sale is in line with its strategy of selling non core assets for value and deploying the gains from such sale to its core businesses.

AEV said it signed Friday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the sale of its 50,000 shares in MCC at P539 per share. AEVI will gain P13 million from the sale of its shares.

AEV is the publicly-listed holding and investment management company of the Aboitiz Group.

Through its majority and minority-owned subsidiaries, AEVI is engaged in various business activities in the Philippines, including electricity generation and distribution, banking and financial services, food production and transportation. Its core investments are in power and banking.

The company earlier invested an additional P1.75 million in Subic EnerZone Corp. (SEZC), which has been awarded the right to distribute power in the Subic Bay Free Port under a rehabilitate-operate-transfer scheme. AEV currently holds 20 percent interest in SEZC.

Other shareholders of SEZC include Mirant Philippines Industrial Power II Corp. (20 percent), Davao Light and Power Co. (40 percent), San Fernando Electric Light & Power Co. (10 percent), Pampanga Sugar Development Co. (5 percent), and Okeelanta Corp. (five percent)

SEZC took over the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) distribution facilities last Oct. 25.

AEV will also purchase 40 million shares of Aboitiz & Co. Inc. (ACO) in William Gothong & Aboitiz Inc. for P3.98 per share or the same price offered by AEV during its tender offer for the WG&A shares in November 2002.