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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
GOKONGWEIS’ offer to acquire a substantial
interest in the Philippines’ largest oil refiner is just one of
the government’s options, the Department of Finance said Thursday.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the
government, through Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), is open to
any possibility on the fate of its 40-percent stake in Petron Corp.
“We are keeping our options open on the
government’s remaining stake in Petron. We will ensure, however,
that any transaction, if ever undertaken, will be under an open and
competitive process,” Teves told reporters in a text message from
Madrid, Spain.
Teves’ announcement came after Lance Gokongwei,
JG Summit Holdings Inc. president and chief executive, said the
conglomerate wants to buy the entire government’s stake in Petron
for P24.6 billion.
JG Summit has interests in the petrochemical,
property, food, retail, airline and telecom industries.
In 1994, the government privatized 60 percent of
Petron by selling 40 percent to Saudi Aramco unit Aramco Overseas
Co. and the remaining 20 percent to retail investors.
Fourteen years after, the Saudi oil firm agreed
to sell its entire stake in Petron after the London-based Ashmore
Group, through its unit SEA Refinery Holdings, offered $550 million
for the said shareholdings.
PNOC has the option to match this offer or
assign the same to a third party, as per an agreement with Aramco
over a decade ago. The government has until Monday to decide whether
it will exercise its right of first refusal.
But government sources said the PNOC does not
have the money to buy back the shares.
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the
acquisition would require budgetary appropriation, adding the P1.23
trillion General Appropriations Act for this year has no allocation
for a buyback of Petron shares.
Apart from the Gokongweis, Energy Sec. Angelo
Reyes said last Wednesday that US-based investment bank Morgan
Stanley is also looking to corner Aramco’s 40-percent stake in
Petron.
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