San Miguel makes Us$5bil bid

Firm declines to name target, expects to complete deal this year

San Miguel Corp, the Philippines’ largest company, has bid for a US$5bil acquisition, president Ramon Ang says, amid efforts to expand in aviation and power.

MANILA: San Miguel Corp, the Philippines’ largest company, has bid to make a US$5bil acquisition, president Ramon Ang said, amid efforts to expand in aviation and power.

The brewer of the century-old San Miguel beer brand made an initial offer for a deal that might be completed this year, Ang told reporters in Manila.

San Miguel faced other regional companies in the bidding and hoped to make it to the final list of three potential buyers, he said.

Ang declined to identify the target company or say what industry it’s in.

“This is going to be a big transaction,” Ang said. “We’re also conducting due diligence on several regional airlines for a possible acquisition.”

San Miguel has expanded from food and drinks to industries including oil, power and infrastructure to meet a target of doubling sales.

The company bought almost half of Philippine Airlines Inc and lowcost affiliate Air Philippines Corp in April to boost sales this year to almost US$20bil and to US$30bil by 2017, Ang said in an interview that month.

Philippine Airlines signed an agreement in Manila on Saturday to buy 10 A330 jets from Airbus SAS, increasing its purchases from the company to 64. The carrier, known as PAL, was in talks with Airbus and Boeing Co for 35 more wide-body aircraft to complete a 100-plane fleet, Ang said.

The brewer owns the South-East Asian nation’s largest oil company, Petron Corp, and is the country’s biggest electricity producer. It bought most of Esso Malaysia Bhd in March, a month before it announced the investment in PAL.

A San Miguel unit planned to add 600 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity in Visayas and Mindanao, where investment was estimated at US$1.5mil per megawatt, Ang said yesterday. That would mean a US$900mil expansion, based on Bloomberg calculations.

The company has announced 35 deals worth more than US$7bil in the past decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The brewer is expanding into heavy industries to triple the return it previously earned from food and drinks. — Bloomberg