Coco levy entities submit docs to convert San Miguel shares
By Ira P. Pedrasa, BusinessWorld | 11/05/2009 3:21 AM
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MANILA - Fourteen sequestered firms under the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) have agreed to the conversion of their stakes in San Miguel Corp. into higher-yielding preferred shares.
Fourteen separate resolutions, all dated Sept. 24 and signed by corporate secretary Narciso P. Nario, Jr., were submitted to the Supreme Court last week.
The high court earlier allowed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to convert into nonvoting preferred shares the common shares registered in the name of the 14 holding companies under the CIIF. These are equivalent to 24% of San Miguel, represented by PCGG, the agency tasked to recover Marcos ill-gotten wealth, in the conglomerate’s board.
The decision, issued in September, also read “[the PCGG] is hereby directed to cause the CIIF companies ... to perform such acts and execute such documents required to effectuate the conversion of the common shares into SMC Series 1 Preferred Shares.”
The issue stemmed from the request of the government, through the Office of the Solicitor General, to convert the shares into nonvoting preferred shares. The government lawyer said the beneficiaries would be better off with relatively higher-yielding shares, amid bleak prospects for the stock market.
San Miguel had set the issue price at P75 per share, a 25% premium from recent closing values. The swap would also earn an 8% per annum dividend rate.
Farmer groups represented by former senators Jovito R. Salonga and Wigberto E. Tanada are seeking a reversal of the decision, saying the 14 holding companies’ go signals should have been acquired first.
“While there is no dispute that PCGG has the right and/or authority during sequestration to seek this court’s approval for the proposed conversion ... this does not however render the personalities of the [holding companies] inutile and irrelevant,” the group said.
The 14 firms are: Anglo Ventures Corp. (21,865,254 shares), AP Holdings, Inc. (34,669,405), ARC Investors, Inc. (105,689,360), ASC Investors, Inc. (167,483,095), Fernandez Holdings, Inc. (18,341,390), First Meridian Development, Inc. (21,865,254), Rock Steel Resources, Inc. (58,237,403), Roxas Shares, Inc. (52,815,194), Randy Allied Ventures, Inc. (24,115,227), San Miguel Officers Corps, Inc.
(53,863,035), Soriano Shares, Inc. (30,123,850), Te Deum Resources, Inc. (58,487,823), Toda Holdings, Inc. (74,880,174), and Valhalla Properties, Limited (31,411,848).
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