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It is back to square one for the consortium planning the P48.4-billion buyout of the minority shareholders of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) after the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) directed them to get a fresh independent fairness opinion for the tender offer price.
Photo Insert: MPIC Chairman, President, and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan is one of the bidders.
In an interview after the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting, MPIC chairman, president, CEO, and one of the bidders Manuel V. Pangilinan, said the bidders have to appoint a new independent financial advisor (IFA) for the tender offer they are making.
He noted that the new IFA will be tasked to reassess the pricing or valuation of MPIC shares.
“So, (we) are back to square one. The bidders are back to square one. Because we will have to most likely appoint a new IFA and then the process will restart after the IFA determines the price, they'll probably give a range of X-Y, then you have to submit that to the PSE again,” Pangilinan explained.
He said the first IFA that the bidders tapped that came out with the tender offer price of P4.63 per share was deemed not “independent enough” by the PSE “because they have done work for the shareholders — MPIC, with myself with GT capital.”
Pangilinan said the problem is that, in the list of qualified IFAs given by the PSE, “most of them have done work for us. We’re a big group, right? And so there are probably only two that have not done much work or little work or no work for us. So the project narrowed down to one of the two.”
He added: “I think we just have to wait for the new IFA and so forth and so on. So we just have to restart the project.”
A consortium consisting of Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc., MIG Holdings Incorporated, GT Capital Holdings, Inc., and Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Corporation (the Bidders) is seeking to buy minority shares at P4.63 per share. MPIC disclosed earlier that it received notice from the bid.
