San Miguel plans to take power generation business public

SMC president Ramon S. Ang AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp. plans to offer its power generation business to the public this 2014 and to expand its energy portfolio through more acquisitions.

The listing by introduction of SMC’s controlling stockholder Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc., meanwhile, is expected to happen by the first or second week of January, SMC president Ramon S. Ang said in an interview on Friday.

Ang said SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. was likewise keen on pursing its initial public offering this coming year.

“It’s not a problem to raise funds because there’s a queue of potential investors. It’ more of the acquisitions that we’re looking at,” Ang said.

The Philippine Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission have both approved the listing by way of introduction of Top Frontier, which is listing at an initial price of P178 per share.

Top Frontier will register and list on the main board of the PSE 490.196 million common shares representing 100 percent of its issued common shares. Out of these shares, SMC agreed to distribute to its common shareholders 240.196 million shares—equivalent to its 49 percent stake—as property dividend at a ratio of one Top Frontier share for every 10 SMC common shares held.

SMC said the distribution of shares in Top Frontier was intended to address cross-ownership issues.