SMC to sell all it has 'at right price' - Danding

MANILA, Philippines - Business tycoon and political kingpin Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. said food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is willing to sell everything on its plate at the right price.

“Everything we have can be bought at the right price,” said Cojuangco on the sidelines of San Miguel Purefoods Co. Inc.’s annual shareholders’ meeting yesterday.

Cojuangco is the chairman of San Miguel Corp. and its food manufacturing unit Purefoods.

Critics have alleged that Danding has already divested all of his shareholdings in San Miguel and is slowly selling his other investments allegedly due to health problems.

Cojuangco, however, said his health condition has vastly improved as he denied speculations he was having serious health problems due to his noticeable absence in politics and business in the past few months.

San Miguel holds a 27 percent interest in power utility giant Meralco while its perceived ally, Global 5000 Investments, headed by former Trade and Industry Minister Roberto V. Ongpin owns 10 percent. 

Meralco owns the country’s largest power franchise and has become an attractive target after regulators allowed it to raise power tariffs by up to 27 percent

Cojuangco, however, said his company has not received any offers yet from anyone for its stake in Meralco and in other investments.

Analysts said San Miguel may be willing to sell its stake in Meralco after Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the parent firm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., has acquired the single biggest stake in the power distribution firm.

For the meantime, Cojuangco said the company will continue to focus on new businesses like mining, infrastructure and power generation.

San Miguel is on the hunt for oil, gas and coal assets overseas to further boost growth outside of its core brewing, food and packaging business and ensure a stronger platform for growth.

It earlier attempted to acquire a stake in PT Bumi Resources and PT Adaro Energy Tbk - the largest coal producer in Indonesia in terms of market value - but did not pursue it as the stake offered was deemed not big enough.           

San Miguel last month won the auction for the 620-megawatt Limay combined-cycle power plant after submitting the lone offer of $13.502 million. It also bagged the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contract for the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Sual coal-fired plant in Pangasinan.

Following the purchase of a 35-percent stake in Philippine Infrastructure Development Corp., San Miguel is hoping to further build up its infrastructure portfolio with its eyes on airports.

San Miguel’s diversification has seen it acquire a minority stake in power utility giant Meralco and an option to buy a majority stake in local oil refiner Petron Corp. It has also recently acquired 32.7 percent interest in Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc. and is now in discussions with the stockholders of Extelcom the terms and conditions of a non-binding memorandum of understanding with respect to its possible acquisition of Extelcom shares.