Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is negotiating to acquire up to 60 percent of publicly listed Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc., San Miguel vice chairman and president Ramon Ang confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Ang declined to disclose the status of the negotiations. He said San Miguel was prepared to comply with the tender offer rule, which requires an investor to offer to buy out minority shareholders if it buys at least 35 percent of a publicly held company.

Ang said the ?very good frequency? in the congressional franchise of Liberty Telecom?s subsidiary was what attracted San Miguel to offer to acquire the firm.

Another favorable factor is that Liberty Telecom is partnering with Qatar Telecom (Qtel), the exclusive telecommunications service provider in Qatar, Ang added.

Liberty Telecom recently said it was increasing its authorized capital stock by P4.8 billion by issuing preferred shares.

It also said its board had approved the issuance of preferred shares to wi-Tribe Ltd. and White Dawn Solution Holdings Inc. as part of a plan to convert the two firms? loans into equity. The preferred shares will be priced at P1.50 each.

wi-Tribe is a joint venture between Qtel and A.A. Tukri Group of Companies (Atco) of Saudi Arabia. Qtel has a 78-percent stake in the venture.

Liberty Telecom was incorporated on Jan. 14, 1994, primarily to engage in real and personal property business and to deal in stocks, bonds and other securities. It is the holding company of Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. and Skyphone Logistics Inc.

Liberty Broadcasting has a congressional franchise, approved in 1956 and is valid until 2014, to operate radio broadcasting stations and television stations for international and domestic communications. Skyphone Logistics is the marketing and distribution partner of Liberty Broadcasting.

In April 2005, the management of Liberty decided to suspend its business operations due to lack of capital required to operate and grow the business. Four months later, Liberty filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court a petition for corporate rehabilitation as part of the company?s plan to continue normal operations. The court issued a stay order on all the company?s outstanding liabilities as of Aug. 15, 2005, effectively preventing creditors from foreclosing on its assets.

San Miguel recently initiated talks with Qtel on a possible joint venture partnership that will take advantage of opportunities in the wireless broadband, mobile and mobile broadband businesses in the Philippines.

San Miguel has been aggressively expanding, acquiring the stake of state-run pension fund Government Service Insurance System in power retailer Manila Electric Co. and agreeing to buy a 51-percent interest in oil refiner and retailer Petron Corp. from British investment fund Ashmore group. With editing by INQUIRER.net