SMC to buy 88.5% of Eagle Cement for P97 billion

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp., the diversified conglomerate headed by tycoon Ramon Ang, plans to acquire an 88.5 percent interest in Eagle Cement Corp., the cement company owned by the Ang family, for P22.02 per share.

At P22.02 per share, Eagle Cement will fetch P96.8 billion from the sale of an 88.5 percent stake to SMC.

Ang said the sale of Eagle Cement “would help improve the cash flow of the diversified conglomerate.”

In separate disclosures late Tuesday, SMC and Eagle Cement said the proposed transaction would trigger notification and clearance with the Philippine Competition Commission, the government’s anti-trust body.

The transaction would also require SMC to do a tender offer of the shares held by the minority shareholders of Eagle Cement.

The acquisition, in effect, would allow Ang to consolidate the cement business under SMC, which is into the development of big-ticket infrastructure including a planned new international airport in Bulacan.

SMC said its board has authorized management to enter into discussions with selling shareholders of Eagle such as Ang, his son John Paul and daughter, Monica, and Far East Holdings Inc., which is majority owned by the family.

Ang is president and CEO of San Miguel and is also chairman, president and CEO of Far East Holdings. He is also the chairman of ECC.

John Paul, meanwhile, is a member of the board of SMC and is also the president and CEO of Eagle Cement.

Ang and his son John Paul did not participate in the approval by the board of directors of the proposed acquisition of Eagle Cement, SMC said in its disclosure.

Eagle Cement raked in P13.7 billion in revenue in the first half of the year, higher than the P11 billion recorded a year ago.

The company’s cement bags are sold under the Eagle Cement Advance and Eagle Cement Exceed while its bulk cement is sold under the Eagle Cement Strongcem brand.

The company owns a cement production facility located in Barangay Akle, San Ildefonso, Bulacan and a grinding and packaging facility in Limay, Bataan.