English: Bottle and can of beer San-Miguel selling in the Philippines (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Financial IQ Philippines Quick Hit(s):
Ramon Ang has played an important role in the re-emergence of San Miguel as one of the country's significant corporations.
As chief executive and now single biggest shareholder of one of the biggest conglomerates in the country, Ramon S. Ang now has a bigger stake in seeing San Miguel Corp. (SMC) succeed in its undertakings.
When SMC chairman Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco Jr. sold his remaining 11- percent stake to Ang, his long-time trusted ally, on “friendly terms,” many wondered what he had in mind.
But to those who know Cojuangco and Ang, known in business circles as RSA, and the relationship they had nurtured for more than three decades, the sale, which catapulted Ang to becoming the new majority shareholder of SMC, came as no surprise.
The sale happened after Top Frontier, a company whose key players include Ang himself, Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin, Joselito Campos and Inigo Zobel, decided to no longer exercise the remaining option given to it under a 2009 agreement by Cojuangco to acquire the latter’s stake in SMC.
Top Frontier, which already owns over 60 percent of SMC’s common shares, believes it has enough shares in the diversified conglomerate and purchasing the remaining 11 percent owned by Cojuangco was no longer necessary.
And so Ang acquired Cojuangco’s remaining stake in SMC, consisting of 493.4 million shares, at P75 per share for P37 billion, which would give Ang an 11-percent stake in SMC. This, of course, excludes his indirect stake in SMC via his part ownership of Top Frontier.
According to Ang, Cojuangco offered the balance of the option shares to him and that he accepted because the San Miguel vision set by management during his term is far from being achieved, and because he has a continuing commitment to Cojuangco, the company’s shareholders, and the employees to see through the realization of this vision in the near future.
For his part, Cojuangco described Ang as “a person in whom I have full trust and confidence and rightfully deserves utmost recognition for transforming the company into a highly diversified and profitable business conglomerate.”
“From the time I requested Ramon to join me in the company, he has continuously dedicated 100 percent of his time and effort in ensuring the growth of the San Miguel Group to the benefit of its shareholders,” Cojuangco added.
It was during the late ‘1970s when Ang was introduced to Cojuangco through the latter’s eldest son Mark, who like Ang was also into cars and racing. When Cojuangco took over the helm of San Miguel, he immediately recruited Ang and the rest is history.
From being basically a dominant food and beverage company, SMC is now into power, fuel and oil, infrastructure, mining, telecommunications, banking, airlines, and airports. SMC is targeting to rake in P1 trillion in sales by 2013, or double its 2011 level, as these new acquisitions and investments start to contribute to earnings.
Sources say that while initially, Cojuangco’s children could not see the wisdom behind the huge trust and confidence given by their father to Ang, with the tremendous growth and success that SMC had experienced, now, everything is very clear. Ang had the business acumen to run San Miguel, so why rock the boat when the captain has a very clear vision and gameplan on how to reach the destination?
Cojuangco was able to cash in on his investments, and the funds he can leave to his children. But at the same time, he was able to make sure that the company he loved so dearly is in safe (and efficient) hands by making Ang not only manager but also majority owner.
Observers also note that with Cojuangco no longer an owner of SMC, although he remains chairman, the political stigma that has hounded him (with his association with the Nacionalista Party, his failed political bid, and the long battle with the PCGG) and SMC as a consequence will finally be removed.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=823747&publicationSubCategoryId=66
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