San Miguel Corp. said it will expedite the tender offer for the minority-held Eagle Cement Corp.
This follows after San Miguel sealed the agreement for the purchase of the majority-owned shares of the cement firm, who also owns part of the company.
San Miguel in a regulatory filing said it will file for an exemptive relief with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow the tender to commence after the acquisition is approved by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
San Miguel plans to buy the stakes of Ramon Ang, John Paul Ang, Monica Ang, and Far East Holdings Inc. (FEHI) – equivalent to 88.5 percent of Eagle Cement. FEHI is majority-owned by Ramon Ang who also sits as president and is a shareholder of San Miguel. John Paul Ang meanwhile also sits at the San Miguel board.
The Eagle Cement stake will be acquired at P22.2 per share, which stockbroker AB Capital Securities Corp. said prices the cement firm at about P110 billion.
The transaction will go through regulatory approval, particularly on anti-trust regulations.
Stockbroker Abacus Securities Corp. meanwhile said the PCC is not likely to block the planned aquisition largely because this will result to a change in control in the cement firm.
Abacus said at the planned acquisition price, it values Eagle Cement at 17x its 2023 earnings at at 265 percent book value as of end-June.
It gives a premium of nearly 50 percent compared to the consensus target price of P15 by the market for cement firm.
Abacus noted the stock never traded higher than P16.70.
Online stock broker Colfinancial.com said the acquisition may result to Eagle Cement’s delisting since its free float will fall below the required minimum. .
