Talks with investors purely exploratory - PAL Holdings

MANILA, Philippines –  PAL Holdings, Inc., the majority shareholder of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), disclosed yesterday that all talks between the airline management and potential local and foreign investors are purely “exploratory.”

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the listed firm’s corporate secretary Ma. Cecilia L. Pesayco said PAL president and COO [and concurrent PAL Holdings president] Jaime J. Bautista “neither confirmed nor denied” any serious discussions between airline officials and San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang.

The disclosure was issued in reaction to a SpyBits column today, stating that SMC’s Ang is “currently in secret talks for the purchase of 40 percent of Philippine Airlines.” The same article added that PAL chairman taipan Lucio C. Tan has allegedly “decided to unload a substantial number of shares from the country’s flag carrier with the right buyer and divest his holdings at a premium price.”

For months on end, speculation was rife that PAL is on the selling block after it encountered massive losses of $312.1 million in fiscal years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 due to the global economic crisis and the sudden spike and drop in fuel prices.

To date, however, none of the rumors has been proven true as the taipan and his family remain in firm control of PAL.

Listed PAL Holdings owns 84.67 percent of the 70-year old airline.