Will son of Henry Sy buy into Manila’s Meralco?

A group headed by the son of shopping mall tycoon Henry Sy, one of the Philippines’ richest men, said on Friday it has offered to buy the 13.4 percent stake of the Lopez business clan in Manila Electric Co.

The group is allied with food-to-power conglomerate San Miguel Corp, which is in the middle of a battle for control of Manila Electric or Meralco with PLDT, the country’s most valuable firm.

“The plan reflects our confidence in the future prospects of the power sector in general and Meralco in particular. Our offer price represents a fair market value for such assets,” Henry Sy Jr., president of Triratna Holdings Corp, said in a statement.

The statement did not give the offer price but an industry source, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly, said the price was around 300 pesos ($6.32) per share, reflecting a premium of 59.6 percent over Friday’s close.

published @ Reuters