Coca-Cola: No disbandment despite sale

The Coca-Cola ball club is here to stay despite San Miguel Corp.’s sale of its 65-percent stake in Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils. Inc to Atlanta-based parent Coca-Cola Co.

A reliable source ruled out disbandment with both SMC and Coca-Cola treasuring membership in the country’s premier pro league.

According to the same source, Coca-Cola Co. might take over the franchise management or transfer the rights to another SMC subsidiary. The second option, however, is subject to the approval of the PBA board.

That procedure has a precedent in the transfer of the Lapanday Holdings Inc. franchise to Piltel Inc. Lapanday used to run the Pepsi- Cola ball club, the forerunner of the Talk n Text Phone Pals.

The fact that the Coca-Cola has yet to inform the PBA Commissioner’s Office of an impending fold-up is a guarantee that the team is here to stay, The STAR source said.

Under the PBA by-laws, a disbanding ball club must give the league a one-year notice.

SMC has a number of subsidiaries to be tapped to take over Coca-Cola. Among them are Magnolia Ice Cream and Viva Mineral Water which SMC carried in the PBL.

SMC sold its stake in the Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils. to Coca-Cola International for $590 million. The deal will be completed upon compliance by both parties of the transition and cooperation agreement for a maximum of 18 months.

The Coca-Cola PBA franchise is among things to be discussed in the transition and cooperation agreement. The STAR source, however, stressed the ball club would stay.

"A PBA franchise is now worth around P100 million. They won’t waste it," the source said.

The Tigers themselves have been assured of their continued stint in the PBA. The team is to figure in the Talk n Text PBA Philippine Cup wildcard round starting Jan. 5.

The Tigers slug it out with the Alaska Milk Aces, the Air21 Express and either the Sta. Lucia Realtors or the Purefoods Chunkee Giants in the wildcard plays.

SMC’s two other ball clubs in Ginebra San Miguel and San Miguel Beer topped the double-round classification phase with identical 13-5 win-loss records, gaining outright entry into the semifinals.

Red Bull and Talk n Text, which finished third and fourth in the preliminaries, clinched automatic slots in the quarterfinals. Purefoods and Sta. Lucia dispute the last outright seat in the quarters in a playoff on Wednesday, at 7 p.m., at the Astrodome.