Pangilinan completes Meralco share purchase from SMGP

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Pangilinan completes Meralco share purchase

Highlights

Manuel V. Pangilinan acquired 3.77 million Meralco shares from SMGP for about P2.19 billion at P580.99 each on October 9, raising his personal stake to 0.34%.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. completed a P12.4-billion purchase of 21.4 million Meralco shares on October 8, increasing its holding to 49.4% from 47.46%.
SMGP will use proceeds from selling its minority Meralco stake to fund existing investments and renewable energy projects across its diversified power generation portfolio.

Block sale terms and ownership changes

As reported by BusinessWorld, citing SMGP in a regulatory disclosure on Monday, the company completed the sale of 3.77 million Meralco common shares to Manuel V. Pangilinan for about P2.19 billion through a special block sale at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Oct. 9.

The shares were sold at P580.99 each and account for about 0.33% of Meralco's outstanding common shares. After the transaction, Pangilinan's personal stake in Meralco increased to about 0.34%.

The acquisition follows a separate P12.4-billion purchase completed on Oct. 8 by Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. MPIC bought about 21.4 million Meralco common shares, equivalent to a 1.9% stake, at the same price of P580.99 per share, lifting its direct and indirect holding in Meralco to about 49.4% from 47.46%.

SMGP portfolio strategy and power sector context

The shares sold by SMGP formed part of holdings it acquired from state-run Land Bank of the Philippines under an agreement signed in December 2008. Under that deal, SMGP agreed to buy the shares at P90 apiece, compared with Meralco's prevailing market price of about P57 at the time, although the transfer to SMGP only took place in 2025 after prolonged litigation over the original transaction.

SMGP has said proceeds from the sale of its minority stake in Meralco will fund existing investments and renewable energy projects. The company, the power generation arm of San Miguel Corp., has a portfolio spanning natural gas, coal, hydroelectric power and battery energy storage systems.

Meralco remains the Philippines' largest private electric distribution utility, serving more than 8.2 million customers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Its controlling shareholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.

Battery energy storage systems in South and Southeast Asia are becoming a key tool for grids as renewable generation rises and intermittency adds operational strain. In our earlier report, we noted that falling costs and the growth of solar-plus-storage projects are accelerating deployments, but scale-up still depends on clear regulation, predictable revenues, and solid market frameworks to manage risks such as battery degradation.

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