Metro Pacific sells 10% stake in Landco to fund Nenaco rehab

Holding firm Metro Pacific Corp. (MPC) has sold a portion of its shareholdings in high-end real estate development subsidiary Landco Pacific Corp. for P60.5 million, the company said in a statement.

The sale involves 529,587 shares or 10.33 percent of Landco’s outstanding capital stock, reducing MPC’s stake in the company to 51 percent.

The buying parties were AB Holdings Corp., a private investment company, and certain individuals in the management of Landco, a multi-product property development firm.

Among Landco’s projects include the luxury residential resorts Peninsula de Punta Fuego and Terrazas de Punta Fuego in Batangas; Leisure Farms in Batangas; Forest Lake Memorial Parks in Iloilo, Zamboanga, Davao, Lucena and Laguna; and Landco Pacific Malls in Cebu and Lucena.

MPC will use the proceeds of the sale to support the ongoing rehabilitation and restructuring program of its shipping unit Negros Navigation Co. (Nenaco) where MPC holds a 97.4-percent stake.

MPC officials said the transaction would be for the best interest of the company and its shareholders given Nenaco’s positive prospects, as its rehabilitation and restructuring program has been moving on track.

Earlier, Manuel V. Pangilinan, managing director of MPC’s parent firm First Pacific Co., said they are still hoping to turn Nenaco around this year and substantially reduce its debts.

In MPC’s recent board meeting, the board accepted the resignations of Daniel Lacson and independent director Melito Salazar, who were later replaced by lawyer Amado Santiago III and Sulficio Tagud.

Tagud was formerly Nenaco’s court-appointed receiver while Santiago leads the legal team advising on Nenaco’s rehabilitation and restructuring program.

Meanwhile, during Nenaco’s own board meeting, Salazar has also resigned as Nenaco director and was replaced by Tagud, who, in turn, was named as Nenaco’s new president and chief executive officer replacing Conrado Carballo who has resigned.

Officials said that as part of Nenaco’s reorganization, its board of directors also approved to reduce the number of board seats from 13 to nine. As a result, Napoleon Nazareno, Vivian Liban, Jose Manuel Mapa and Emer Nitura tendered their resignations, leaving as member of the board Daniel Lacson as chairman emeritus, Jose Ma. Lim as chairman, Tagud, Pangilinan, Carballo, Edward Go, Julio Ledesma, Augusto Palisoc and Jeremias Cruzabra as members.