Shareholders of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) elected on Tuesday six nominees belonging to the alliance of the PLDT group and the Lopez business clan to the company's board of directors.

MANILA - Shareholders of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) elected on Tuesday six nominees belonging to the alliance of the PLDT group and the Lopez business clan to the company's board of directors.

The remaining five nominees elected out of the total 11 are aligned with San Miguel Corp. and its partners. San Miguel and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) have been seen to be in a power struggle for the Philippines' biggest power distributor.

The PLDT group and the Lopez clan hold a total of about 43.5 percent in Meralco, almost the same as the stake held by San Miguel and its business allies.

Manolo Lopez retained his chairmanship of Meralco, while San Miguel president Ramon Ang stays as vice-chairman of the power retailer.

According to a Reuters report, Ang said they "will support" PLDT in Meralco.

PLDT may hike stake

Meanwhile, PLDT and its affiliates are interested in raising their stake in Meralco by buying the Lopez group's remaining 13.4 percent holdings.

Asked by reporters if PLDT was willing to buy the Lopez family's Meralco stake, company chairman Manuel Pangilinan answered: "Yes, yes."

PLDT and San Miguel bought stakes in the power distributor to boost their own telecoms ventures using Meralco's fiber optic network.

Ang, for his part, assured that San Miguel has no plans to buy more shares in Meralco or take over the power retailer.

Ang added they will keep their interest in Meralco as long as chairman Manuel Lopez stays. With reports from Reuters; Ricky Carandang, ABS-CBN News