JG Summit loses interest in Petron

Written by Writer on Monday, October 20th, 2008

JG Summit loses interest in Petron

Written by Honey Madrilejos-Reyes / Reporter
Business Mirror
Sunday, 19 October 2008 23:30

THE scuttlebutt is that with London-based investment fund Ashmore Group already holding 50.6 percent of Petron, JG Summit Holdings Inc. (JGSH), the listed conglomerate of the Gokongwei Group, is no longer interested in buying the 40 percent of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) in the oil-refining giant Petron Corp.

In a chance meeting, JG president Lance Gokongwei replied, “No, we are not interested,” when asked if they would buy the state stocks in Petron. While it did not confirm the reason for their disinterest, his reply did confirm they have at least temporarily abandoned any intention to buy into Petron.

The Ashmore Group holdings consist of the 40-percent stake of Saudi Aramco and 10.6 percent held by the public that they bought.

The Gokongweis, in a letter sent in May to Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, has offered to buy for P24.5 billion or at P6.55 per share the 3.75 billion shares owned by PNOC in Petron.

Petron board director Roberto Ongpin said, “We would decide before that time. We have [been] given officially by PNOC the notice telling us at what price they would like to sell.”

Ongpin, also an Ashmore representative in the country, added Ashmore has until next month to decide whether to exercise its right of first refusal on the PNOC stake as provided in its shareholders’ agreement with the state-owned agency.

He let drop, however, that Ashmore is already comfortable with its current ownership of 50.6 percent. “At the end of the day, and please, I’m not at all inferring that Ashmore will not buy the additional 40 percent, but if at the end of the day they don’t want to buy it, they still own 50.57 percent.”