Gokongweis offer to buy Petron shares

Gokongweis’ offer to acquire a substantial interest in the Philippines’ largest oil refiner is just one of the government’s options, the Department of Finance said. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government, through Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), is open to any possibility on the fate of its 40% stake in Petron Corp. Teves’ announcement came after Lance Gokongwei, JG Summit Holdings Inc. president and chief executive, said the conglomerate wants to buy the entire government’s stake in Petron for Php24.6 billion (US$578.1 million). In 1994, the government privatized 60% of Petron by selling 40% to Saudi Aramco unit Aramco Overseas Co. and the remaining 20% to retail investors. Fourteen years after, the Saudi oil firm agreed to sell its entire stake in Petron after the London-based Ashmore Group, through its unit SEA Refinery Holdings, offered US$550 million for the said shareholdings. (May 9, 2008)