MANILA – San Miguel Corp., the country’s largest food and beverage conglomerate, has officially taken over the operations and management of Petron Corp.

SMC head Ramon Ang has been elected as the new chairman of Petron, replacing Nicasio Alcantara who will continue to serve as a member of the board directors.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Petron, the country’s largest refiner, said the election of new set of officers was held during their special meeting on Jan. 8.

Eric Recto, president of Petron, will carry on with his position, while newly-appointed officials include Emmanuel Erana as chief finance officer and Lubic Nepomuceno as general manager.

The company further said that the new members of the Petron board are Ang, replacing Carmen Pedrosa; Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., replacing Craig Webster of Ashmore; Estelito Mendoza, Cojuangco's lawyer and SMC board member, replacing former Sec. Michael Defensor. Angelito Salud has been elected as independent director.

Appointed as members of the board are former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Bernardino Abes, Roberto Ongpin and Ron Haddock.

In a separate disclosure, SMC confirmed that it committed to pay the Ashmore Group US$ 10 million as “consideration under the option agreement.”

The agreement between SMC and Ashmore states that Ashmore will handle the negotiations with SMC for two years.

Last Dec. 24, SMC and SEA Refinery Holdings B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ashmore, sealed the deal which allows the SMC to acquire the entire stake of the Ashmore Group in Petron.

Currently, SEA Refinery controls 50.17 percent of the outstanding shares of Petron.

Earlier, SMC revealed that it plans to put investment in power, mining, infrastructure and telecommunications sectors.

London-based Ashmore Group acquired Saudi Aramco's 40 percent stake in Petron and an additional 10.57 percent stake through a tender offer conducted in July last year.

State-owned Philipine National Oil Company sold its 40 percent stake or 3.75 billion shares in Petron Corp. to Ashmore for P25.7 billion.

Petron has 9.375 billion outstanding shares and a market capitalization of P55.3 billion.

In 1994, the Philippine government sold its 40 percent share with PNOC to Aramco for US$ 535 million and it was agreed upon that that PNOC would be given the right to match or assign an eligible party should the Saudi-based oil company decide to sell its shares.*PNA

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