Zobels, Aboitiz take profit ahead of market rout

The Zobel brothers and an Aboitiz and a Concepcion heir were among the handful of company owners and directors who read the warning signs right and had taken profit ahead of the still ongoing market rout, according to stock exchange records.

Amid all the self-congratulatory chatter about how the Philippine Stock Exchange had outperformed more developed neighbors, Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel and president Fernando Zobel in April sold about P160 million worth of Ayala shares at P601 to P636 each.

By yesterday noon’s close, Ayala Corp. had recovered some lost ground from days of pounding to end at P570.

Over in Cebu, Aboitiz Equity Ventures director Enrique Aboitiz Jr. exhibited great market timing when he disposed of nearly P225 million worth of AEV shares between March and April, even ahead of the Zobels, selling the company stock anywhere between P53.80 to P56. AEV closed Thursday noon at P47.30. His fellow AEV director, Carlos Moraza, followed suit, dumping in just one week week in April over 1.748 million shares at P54.20 to P55 a piece.

In addition, Moraza shorted another Aboitiz stock, Aboitiz Power, disposing a total of 650,000 shares in just one day, on May 14, at P36.24. Despite the still critical power situation in Mindanao and some parts of the Visayas, the stock continued heading south Tuesday, closing at P31, before bottom pickers pushed the stock at P34 by Thursday noon close.

Go Negosyo cheerleader Jose Concepcion III, meanwhile, has over 33 million reasons to celebrate. The president and chief executive of the RFM Corp. sold over six million shares in April and May, when RFM was trading anywhere between P5.37 and P6.04.

RFM was one of the few stocks to buck the market meltdown Tuesday, closing at P4.58, up 1.55 percent amid thin trading. It closed Thurday noon still higher, at P5.08.

Even the president and chief executive of Jollibee Foods, Tony Tancaktiong, showed he was not immune from the market jitters despite the fast-food conglomerate supposed to be resilient from any economic downturn.

After availing of his stock options earlier this month at P27.50 a share, Tancaktiong immediately turned around and sold nearly 350,000 shares at an average of P140 each, clearing nearly P50 million as market losses piled up.