Leviste buys 8.5% stake of ABS-CBN

President and CEO of Solar Philippines, Leandro Leviste buys 8.5% stake of ABS-CBN PHOTO: SM/Website; INQUIRER FILES

Businessman Leandro Leviste, founder of renewable energy firm Solar Philippines and son of Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, has brought 8.5 percent stake of ABS-CBN Corp. in hopes of “helping” the debt-ridden media giant.

In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, Leviste’s LL Holdings said it currently held 75.88 million of ABS-CBN’s shares.

Parent company Countryside Investments Holdings Corp., another Leviste company, holds 619,000 shares of ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. These are currently being converted into ABS-CBN shares.

The transaction makes Leviste the largest shareholder of the company after the Lopez Group.

The pricing of the deal was not disclosed, but based on market prices as of 12 p.m. on Thursday, the Leviste’s stake was worth around P358 million.

ABS-CBN’s shares rallied by 8.33 percent to P4.68 each.

“ABS-CBN is a great company that helped countless people over the years. I hope there may now be a way for us to be of help, for the benefit of ABS-CBN’s shareholders and employees, and the media industry of the Philippines,” Leviste said in a statement.

Leviste’s mother, Senator Legarda, was a former ABS-CBN news anchor. She abstained from voting on the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise in 2020 as House deputy speaker, citing “conflict of interest,” for which she drew much public ire.

Leviste sold the majority of his company, SP New Energy Corp., to a subsidiary of distributor Manila Electric Co. in December last year for P15.9 billion to help fund his 3,500-megawatt solar project.