Is this another case of “What Manny Pangilinan wants, Ramon Ang will also try to get”?
This question emerges as reports regarding purported interest by Ramon Ang, president of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC), to acquire a 30% equity stake in GMA Network Inc. (GMA7) surfaced last week.
The tragic collapse of Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. (TFHI) during its initial listing last week highlighted one important stock trading lesson that most investors are still not aware of. That is, a stock’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) or introductory listing does not automatically translate to instant gains.
Most newbie stock investors have this notion that IPOs — or in the case of TFHI, initial listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) by way of introduction — always result to profits.
With TFHI’s stock price dropping 44% on its first trading day and 58% total drop in just week — we now see that IPOs and initial listings may not necessarily be good investments.
Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. (TFHI), the single largest shareholder of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) has secured approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to list its shares on the PSE next year.
Top Frontier Investment Holdings owns a major stake in SMC but, interestingly, the conglomerate SMC is also the biggest shareholder of Top Frontier.
At least twenty-seven (27) publicly-listed firms, including San Miguel Brewery (SMB), Eton Properties Inc. (Eton), and First Metro Investment Corporation (FMIC), are facing possible trading suspension by next year, if they are unable to comply with the minimum public ownership requirement set by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
A few days ago, I drove by a Petron outlet to gas up and noticed a poster advertising San Miguel Corporation (SMC)‘s public offering of its “Series 2” Preferred Shares. There’s nothing illegal about the advertisement. SMC is a primary stockholder of Petron Corp. and they can advertise anything in any of their Petron branches.
It’s confirmed: Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is interested in acquiring a substantial interest in the country’s carrier Philippine Airlines. Ang himself confirmed this in a report by ABS-CBN News.
San Miguel Corp. is said to be in the middle of due diligence at present where they look into the financial statements and operations of PAL before making a final bid amount.
Another bidding war is supposedly in the making between the two groups allegedly responsible for the 275% increase in the price of Meralco (MER) during the last 7 months.
The latest battlefront: Philex Mining Corporation (Stock Code: PX).
