P-noy uncle sidelined in P1.8-B Villar deal with Canadian miner

P-Noy uncle Ernesto Teopaco and his corporate allies Jose Ricafort and former Public Works Secretary Jose de Jesus have been sidelined in the boardroom squabble within the mining firm National Development Corp. over the development of the large King-king gold and copper mine in Mindanao.

The Toronto-listed St. Augustine Gold and Copper announced on Friday that it had acquired 25 percent of Nadecor for $43.5 million (over P1.8 billion) in partnership not with the Teopaco-Ricafort-de Jesus group but with Nadecor president Conrado Calalang.

According to the grapevine, the 25-percent St. Augustine acquired were the same unsubscribed shares that the Teopaco-Ricafort-de Jesus group had earlier asked Senator Manuel Villar Jr. to purchase. Villar initially agreed, but was wise enough to ask that his payment to the Teopaco-Ricafort-de Jesus group be placed in escrow until after the boardroom legitimacy issue shall have been cleared by the court.

In the meantime, Villar, as an insurance, directly acquired 18 percent of St. Augustine, with an option to bring his stake up to 32 percent.

Villar’s Queensberry Mining and Development Corp. “has indicated its continuing interest in developing the King-king project,” St. Augustine said in its Friday announcement.

“We are delighted to welcome St. Augustine as a significant shareholder in Nadecor,” Nadecor president Conrado Calalang was also quoted as saying in the St. Augustine news release. “St. Augustine and Nadecor are aligned in our goal to advance the King-king project into production as quickly as possible.”

The Teopaco-Ricafort-de Jesus group has a pending petition with the Supreme Court to invalidate a Court of Appeals order that effectively re-installed the Calalang group in control of Nadecor.