Unioil group taking over CIP

The Unioil group has acquired 78.04 percent of Chemical Industries of the Philippines (CIP) as most shareholders sold their stocks despite an alternative offer floated by another group.

The group intends to use CIP as a backdoor-listing vehicle for potential investment in industries related to the government’s infrastructure program, including but not limited to the construction equipment industry.

The entities that made the tender offer were Lavish Sources Ltd., Quantumlink

Realty Corp., Citiworld Pro­perties & Development Corp. and Exquadra Inc., which are all affiliated with the Unioil group.

This deal allows the Garcia family to finally sell their shares in the company after years of dispute among shareholders.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, CIP said the buyers had confirmed that 2.17 million common shares were tendered pursuant to the tender offer of the new group. The buyers now hold a total of 8.037 million shares representing 78.04 percent of CIP’s outstanding stock.

Janice Co Roxas-Chua, daughter and apparent successor of Unioil founder Paul Co, led the CIP takeover initiative.

Prior to the tender offer, a group of shareholders—Philippine Indochem Corp., Chemholdings Corp., A2K Holdings Corp., Chemphil Employees Livelihood Foundation Inc. and Antonio Garcia—committed to sell to the Unioil group at a price of P177.63 per share.

Before the closing of the tender offer, CIP received an alternative offer from a new group that includes the Delgados’ Transnational Diversified Group of Companies, which is into logistics, ship management, travel and tourism, information and communications technology services, securities trading, real estate and renewable energy, among other businesses.

This group offered to buy CIP shares at a higher price of P190.99 per share, but the offer was conditioned upon, among others, the termination of the share purchase agreement with Unioil-affiliated companies, the withdrawal of the tender offer, satisfactory results of due diligence and execution of a definitive agreement with the sellers.

In the end, most of the shareholders decided to accept a firm offer rather than go back to the negotiating table with another party in search for better terms.

Although the Unioil group built its fortune from the petroleum business, it has diversified into other businesses like property development.

CIP is currently valued by the stock market at close to P1.8 billion. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla INQ