Yesterday it was announced that the Ashmore Group had acquired already the Philippine government’s 40% share in major Oil giant, Petron Corp., by the payment of the agreed upon P25.7 billion selling price.
In an agreement signed with the UK based Ashmore Group, San Miguel Corp will now proceed to acquire their subsidiary, SEA Refinery Holdings BV (holder of Ashmore’s shares in Petron) so as to take ownership of Ashmore’s 91% stake in Petron. Prior to the purchase of the government’s shares, Ashmore already had a 50.1% stake in Petron.
One thing I never understood was why San Miguel had to go through the route of having Ashmore acquire the government’s share for them then buying up the shares of Ashmore in order to complete the deal, rather than buying the government’s shares directly?
Turns out according to this report, is that San Miguel could have been avoiding the tender offer rule. Wherein a company that is acquiring more than 35% shares of a public company would also have to offer buying the rest of the available shares. Makes sense? kinda.
What does make sense is why, NEDA Secretary, Ralph Recto, was calling for legislators to draft anti-trust laws, specifically aimed at oil companies. Because with the government’s lost stake in Petron they need to find other means to keep the price of gasoline honest.
Category: Oil, Oil Price
