Philam Life to dispose of 10% stake in Phinma

Life insurer Philam Life has sold its 10-percent stake in local business group Phinma Corp. to the latter’s controlling shareholder for P310.62 million.

Philam Life unloaded about 28.238 million shares of Phinma at P11 per share by way of a block sale through the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. This marked a premium of P2.26 or 25.8 percent from Thursday’s closing price of P8.74 per share.

The shares were gobbled up by Philippine Investment Management Inc., which now has a stake of 60.83 percent in Phinma and thus has consolidated its control of the local company.

Phinma Corp. is a holding company with investments in the education, steel products, housing, business process outsourcing and hospitality sectors. It is currently valued by the stock market at P2.38 billion.

Over the years, Philam Life has been unloading noncore businesses to focus on life insurance business. Last year, its mutual fund unit Philam Asset Management Inc. transferred all outstanding mutual funds under management to BPI Investment Management Inc. Philam Life is part of AIA, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group.