Lucio Tan offers PAL shares for sale

From the Facebook page of PAL

MANILA – Lucio Tan on Wednesday announced that he will offer shares of flag carrier Philippine Airlines and its owner PAL Holdings Inc., at discounted prices to buy out the minority shareholders.

A share of PAL Holdings is now at P1.19 each, while Philippine Airlines share is prized at P0.31 each. The offer is valid until November 19 only.

The deal was made possible with the use of two companies owned by Tan. It was priced at the “same economic terms” used to get hold of San Miguel Corp.’s 49-percent stake last month.

This ended San Miguel’s two-year stint as airline manager and stockholder of Philippine Airlines.

Tan’s group said that the offer aims to provide minority shareholders the chance to exit PAL as SMC.

According to Philippine Airlines general manager Jaime Bautista, this still makes PAL Holdings a publicly-listed company.

As a matter of fact, the offer was “significantly higher” compared with fair values listed by Unicapital Inc., which is the third-party valuator.

The offer will be executed through other properties owned by Tan including Buona Sorte Holdings Inc. and Horizon Global Investments Ltd.

Philippine National Bank’s Trust Banking Group was assigned as PAL Holdings’ tender offer agent, while Philippine Airlines’ tender offer agent is PNB Securities.

Tan’s group earlier said that they plan to be more conservative when it comes to running the airline.

Although the carrier has had its fair share of ups and downs, it still aims to end the year with a profit according to Bautista. PAL Holdings posted profit during the second quarter.