Thursday November 5, 3:32 PM
Philippines utility firm faces key decision
Shares in First Philippine Holdings Corp. soared Thursday after a firm linked to the country's richest man made a bid for its stake in top power firm Meralco.
Triratna Holdings Corp -- majority owned by a son of shopping mall magnate Henry Sy -- offered to buy First Philippine's 13.4 percent of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for about 44.6 billion pesos (937.37 million dollars).
The bid was followed by the disclosure from another Meralco shareholder, Metro Pacific Investments Inc, that it may also bid for the First Philippine stock or sell its own 14.7 percent stake to Triratna.
The board of First Philippine was to hold a board meeting Thursday to discuss the offer. Its shares jumped 6.42 percent to 58 pesos on the news.
First Philippine holds the Meralco shares of a prominent business clan, led by industrialist Oscar Lopez, that has run the utility for generations, while Metro Pacific is a unit of Hong Kong-listed First Pacific Co. Ltd.
Metro Pacific said Wednesday it was assessing its options regarding its Meralco stake.
Metro Pacific shares closed 3.28 percent higher to 3.15 pesos, while Meralco was up 1.84 percent to 221 pesos.
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