Credit Suisse buys 2% stake in Petron

Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd. has acquired a 2-percent stake in Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil refiner and retailer.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday, Petron explained that the 195 million Petron shares were sold by the Petron Corporation Employees’ Retirement Plan. The company, however, did not disclose the price at which the shares were sold.

Earlier this year, 695.3 million common shares of Petron were sold at P11 each. The stocks were also owned by the Petron retirement fund. This represented a P7.65-billion block price for the 7.4-percent stake placed out by the retirement fund.

The move allowed the company to widen its public float to 14.68 percent from 7.5 percent and comply with the mandated 10-percent public ownership for listed companies.—Amy R. Remo