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Top conglomerate Ayala Corp. said Thursday it may bid for the
Philippine unit of troubled US firm American Insurance Group (AIG).
AIG this week put Philippine-American Life and
General Insurance Co. (Philamlife), the country’s largest and
most profitable insurer, up for auction to help repay last month’s
$85-billion bailout loan from the US Federal Reserve.
Listed Ayala told the Philippine Stock Exchange
in a letter that it is “interested to look into the possible
acquisition of Philippine-American Life and General Insurance Co.”
It added: “This intent is very preliminary at
this stage and is subject to further internal deliberation by the
company.”
The Philamlife group, which is also into banking
and asset management, has put its net worth at P49.4 billion ($1.04
billion).
Ayala shares closed unchanged Thursday at P249.
The Ayala Group has interests in property,
banking, information technology and telecommunications, insurance,
utilities, among others.
Earlier, Jose Cuisia Jr., Philamlife president
and chief executive officer, said 10 companies are interested in
buying his company whole or by parts—but he declined to name them.
The state-run Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS) and Yuchengco group of companies are also eyeing to
snatch up Philamlife.
In a previous report, Winston Garcia, the
fund’s president and general manager, said GSIS is “open for a
joint venture” with either Ayala Corp. or the Yunchengcos, which
owns Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and Malayan Insurance. But as of
Thursday, Garcia said the fund has not formalized its interest in
Philamlife.
-- AFP With The Manila Times
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