16 September 1998: San Miguel Corp. of the Philippines has denied speculation that its board was planning a hostile take-over attempt on fellow blue-chip company Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PL…
16 September 1998: San Miguel Corp. of the Philippines has denied speculation that its board was planning a hostile take-over attempt on fellow blue-chip company Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT). “The board of directors of the company has not authorised nor discussed a possible take-over of PLDT,” senior vice-president Francis Jardeleza said. Mr. Jardeleza said his company was named by a news report as a possible initiator of a take-over attempt on beer-based San Miguel. Dominant carrier PLDT has adopted a so-called “poison pill” shareholder rights plan designed to make hostile take-overs prohibitively expensive. New San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco has reportedly been disposing of company assets, including a dairy joint venture with Nestle of Switzerland, in preparation to going into other businesses. Meanwhile, the company also said that its board of directors has not yet discussed any sale of its stake in Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. “Please be informed that the board of directors of the company has not authorised nor discussed the sale of its stake in Coca Cola Amatil,” Jardeleza said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. The company was reacting to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, which did not identify its source, saying San Miguel was poised to sell its 20% stake in Coca Cola Amatil to the Atlanta-based parent firm Coca Cola Co. for around US$ 900 million.