SMC pares down stake in Meralco, raises P17.4 B
Pedestrians walk past a Meralco sign in suburban Manila in this file photo. AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Corp. has raised P17.4 billion from the sale of an initial 5.7 percent stake in the country’s largest power distributor, Manila Electric Co.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, SMC announced it had sold 64.33 million shares of Meralco at P270 each in a placement arranged by Deutsche Bank AG Hong Kong branch and Standard Chartered Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
This transaction trims SMC’s interest in Meralco from 32.8 percent to 27.1 percent. The disclosure did not say who bought the shares.
SMC said an application for the block sale of the shares had been filed with the PSE on Friday. The transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
The shares were offered to the market through a book-building process in the last few days.
SMC had said it was evaluating offers for its stake in Meralco, which is under the management control of the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan.
