Government-held SMC shares offered for conversion

MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said yesterday that the government-held “common shares” in food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) were definitely among those that were offered for conversion to series 1 preferred shares.

Lawyer Ricardo Abcede, PCGG commissioner for litigation, said the conversion of the government stake, representing 24 percent of the conglomerate, was now under processing.

“They are already processing the documentation,” Abcede told The STAR in an interview.

Abcede said that the PCGG proceeded with the conversion with all the requisite recommendations and clearances from concerned government and private agencies that had to be consulted for the move.

Abcede noted that even the Supreme Court had cleared the conversion.

“The Supreme Court has already approved it. As far as we’re concerned, everything is okay already,” Abcede said.

Among the clearances that the PCGG considered to give the go-signal to the conversion were a recommendation from the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), the official administrator of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) and the registered owner of the 24-percent SMC stake, that the move was advantageous to the government.

Abcede said that the Department of Finance had also given them an opinion, based on a study undertaken by the Development Bank of the Philippines, supporting the conversion as advantageous to the government.

“With all that, we came out with a resolution favoring the conversion, stating that it is advantageous to the government,” Abcede said.

Nearly 80 percent of the total shares under San Miguel Corp.’s exchange offer had been tendered for conversion into preferred shares of the diversifying food and beverage conglomerate.