PLDT Retirement Fund buys board seats in meralco
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, PLDT, bought more than a 10% of the outstanding stock shares of MERALCO, Manila Electric Corporation, enough to bargain for a board seat in the country's biggest power distributor.
The Lopez-led utility firm, in an interview by the Philippine Stock Exchange, PSE, yesterday announced that the PLDT Beneficiary Trust Fund, together with a subsidiary holding firm abroad, bought about 11.3 M shares, which now makes their stake worth P 10.64 B based on March 9 closing prices.
PLDT has no immediate plans of buying more Meralco shares in the coming months, but plans to install its own choice of director to its board this May 26.
This acquisition sent prices skyrocketing to a record close of P 126 last friday. Yesterday's announcement ended weeks of speculation about further confrontation between Pangilinan-led PLDT and Cojuanco-led San Miguel Corporation, SMC, which owns 27% of the power distribution firm.
With the identity of the buyer of MERALCO shares now in the open, the next step is for companies to garner enough proxy votes, if it is indeed true that SMC wants to gain majority control over MERALCO. But the market has yet to hear reports that SMC is gearing up for a proxy war.
MERALCO stock price dived down to 94 pesos yesterdat after surging more than 30% in the last two trading sessions. Market talk pointed to a battle for control over PLDT between the Lopezes and Cojuanco, which is currently diversifying out of its core food and beverage business.
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