Pangilinan buying Philippine Star

Manuel V. Pangilinan. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said it expects to close within this year a deal that would give it controlling interest in the broadsheet Philippine Star.

The group is looking to increase its shares in the broadsheet to 80 percent, said Mike Toledo, head of the MVP group media bureau. “The transaction (is) to be sealed within the year,” he said on Saturday.

The transaction is said to be valued at a little less than P5 billion.

“The group will also control affiliates of the Star,” Toledo said.

It was previously reported that the MVP group was working to acquire a controlling stake in BusinessWorld.

Pangilinan controls TV5 and Cignal TV. He already has a minority stake in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (10 percent) through MediaQuest Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund.

The majority of Philippine Star is currently owned by the Belmonte family while the estate of the late journalist Max Soliven accounts for over 20 percent, based on industry estimates. Owned and published by Philstar Daily Inc., the Philippine Star group was founded in 1986 by veteran journalists, including Soliven, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal.

The MVP group also made previous attempts to buy GMA Network Inc. (GMA 7), the latest of which was for an estimated price of P52.5 billion but talks collapsed last year due to regulatory “risk-sharing” issues.