Metro Pacific Investments’ (MPI) biggest investor is expected to sacrifice one board seat which the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) took away during the diversified firm’s privatization.
A Babbler said Metro Pacific Holdings, the principal shareholder which owns 49 percent of MPI, is likely to reduce its intended board representation from eight seats to seven following MPI’s delisting.
This move is aimed at accommodating Mit-Pacific Holdings, a collaboration between Mitsui & Co. and Japan’s government-private sponsored infrastructure investment fund JOIN, to ensure it would appoint two directors to the 15-member board.
” Mitsui’s interest in MPI was the driving force behind their plan to buy out minority shareholders and delist the company. So, it only makes sense that it get the two seats it wanted,” Babbler said.
The MPI bidding consortium, comprising MP Holdings, Mitsui, GT Capital, and MIG Holdings under the leadership of Manny V. Pangilinan, was only able to acquire 60 percent of their targeted 9.165 billion shares in the recently concluded tender offer.
Mitsui, in particular, fell short of its 18 percent target, acquiring only 11 percent of MPI shares.
Meanwhile, the Ty family took the initiative of acquiring MPI shares worth a substantial P4.3 billion from the open market. This move was essential to ensure that GT Capital could secure the necessary shares, totaling 22 percent, required for the allocation of two board seats.
Based on Babbler’s forecast, MP Holdings will hold seven board seats, while Mitsui and GT Capital will each secure two. GSIS will claim one seat, and the remaining three seats will be allocated to independent directors.
GSIS, led by seasoned investment banker Wick Veloso, disrupted the MPI bidders’ initial plan by acquiring up to 12 percent of MPI, retaining its status as an investor in the company even after the delisting process.”