PNOC to evaluate Ashmore offer to buy Petron
March 15th, 2008 by Site AdministratorSTATE-OWNED Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) said Friday Saudi Aramco has expressed a desire to sell its entire 40 percent stake in oil refiner Petron Corp.
PNOC, a major stockholder of Petron in behalf of the government, made the disclosure after Petron announced that London-listed Ashmore Group has offered to buy Saudi Aramco’s 3.75 billion Petron shares through its unit, SEA Refinery Holdings, for $550 million.
Saudi Aramco supplies the crude oil requirement of Petron, which in turn accounts for about 40 percent of the Southeast Asian nation’s total fuel requirements. The company holds its 40 percent stake in Petron via unit Aramco Overseas Company (AOC).
“We have received a notice from AOC regarding the proposed sale of its shares in Petron, and will carefully evaluate this filing with the diligence and rigor necessary and appropriate to determine the best course of action,” PNOC president and chief executive Antonio Cailao said in a statement.
PNOC also owns a 40-percent stake in Petron.
Cailao said the government will study carefully the government’s course of action on this matter within the next two months.
Cailao said PNOC will evaluate the terms and conditions associated with Ashmore’s offer and decide whether to exercise its “right of first offer” to purchase the shares.
Earlier Friday, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said Manila “appreciates that AOC’s business focus has changed since it made its investment in Petron 14 years ago.”
Arroyo said she is pleased nonetheless that AOC “will maintain its ties with the Philippines through the commitment by its parent, Saudi Aramco, to maintain strong commercial ties with Petron after the sale of the AOC shares to an approved investor.”
“Should Ashmore receive PNOC’s approval, it will mean that a company that knows the Philippines well through its investment in our international financing and in an important utility, Maynilad Water, will be expanding its operations in our country,” Arroyo said in a statement.
Enrico dela Cruz
As posted in inquirer.net