SMC to raise stake in Petron

MANILA, Philippines - Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. will raise its shareholdings in Petron Corp. to around 67 percent when it exercises its option to acquire as much as 60 percent of the oustanding shares of Sea Refinery Corp. on or before Dec. 15, 2010.

Sea Refinery is a unit of British investment firm Ashmore Group, which owns 50.1 percent of the country’s largest oil refiner.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, San Miguel said it purchased an additional 1.52 billion common shares of Petron from Sea Refinery Holdings B.V. at P7.20 each for a total of P10.93 billion. The shares were crossed at the exchange Tuesday. 

The 120-year-old powerhouse paid the Ashmore Group $10 million early last year to acquire an exclusive option to buy into Sea Refinery. The agreement allows San Miguel to exercise the share purchase option in two years from Dec. 24, 2008.

The Ashmore Group acquired about 90.6 percent of Petron after it bought the government’s 40 percent interest for around $544 million in late 2008.

San Miguel completed in June a tender offer for shares in Petron through several special block sales. It acquired a total of 184.7 million shares, representing a 1.97 percent stake in Petron, from minority shareholders at a price of P6.85 each.

Shares of Petron closed nearly one percent lower yesterday at P6.40 a piece.

The completed tender offer reduced the free float of Petron to around 7.43 percent from 9.4 percent.

In April, San Miguel exercised an option to acquire a majority stake in Petron, triggering the tender offer for the remaining 49.9 percent of the oil refiner.

San Miguel has been diversifying away from its traditional food and drinks businesses and into power, mining, telecommunications, oil refining and infrastructure to fuel faster profit growth.