Ang raises stake in Top Frontier

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Ramon Ang has raised his stake in Top Frontier Investment Holdings, the parent company of San MIguel Corp., the diversified conglomerate he leads as president and CEO.

In a disclosure, Top Frontier said it entered into a subscription agreement with Ang’s Far East Holdings Inc. (FEHI) wherein FEHI will subscribe to 45 million shares of Top Frontier at P241.42 per common share or a total amount of P10.9 billion to be fully paid in cash before June 30.

The P241.42 purchase price was more than double the stock’s closing price on Thursday last week when the planned share purchase was first disclosed. Last week, Top Frontier’s share price went up by 10.8 percent to P133 per share. Yesterday, the stock went down by 0.18 percent to P126.80 per share.

Top Frontier shall secure the approval by its shareholders for the listing of the subscribed shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The share purchase will boost Ang’s stake in Top Frontier to about 35 percent from 26 percent and will make him the second-largest shareholder in the company next to fellow billionaire Iñigo Zobel. Ang is president and CEO of Top Frontier while Zobel is chairman.

The board earlier approved Ang’s investment following an independent valuation conducted by FTI Consulting showed that the company’s shares were undervalued and could be worth as much as P286.70  each which is the high end of the valuation.

The low end was P196.14 per share while the midpoint was P241.42 per share.

Top Frontier owns 65.99 percent of SMC, which has investments in various industries such as beverage, food; packaging, properties,  fuel and oil;,energy, infrastructure, banking,  and others.

It also has interest in exploration, mining and development.