InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS
MANILA, Philippines - The president of San Miguel Corp. on Friday suggested that his friendship with the owners of GMA Network Inc. would keep them from selling control of the broadcasting company to the PLDT group.
At the sidelines of the San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. annual stockholders meeting, Ramon Ang confidently predicted that there would be no deal between the group led by Manuel V. Pangilinan and the owners of GMA7.
"Ay pustahan tayo, walang mangyayari dun. Kwento-kwento lang yun," he told reporters. (I'd be willing to bet, nothing will come of that. Idle chatter, nothing more.)
"Di ba sina Nards Jimenez may-ari nun?" Ang said, referring to Menardo Jimenez, a board director of Purefoods. "Eto tanungin ko sa yo, sinong mas kaibigan ng Duavit family? Si Nards Jimenez? Sino mas kaibigan ni Henry Gozon?" (Isn't that owned by the group of Menardo Jimenez? Let me ask you: Who's closer to the Duavit family? Nards Jimenez? Who's closer to Henry Gozon?)
San Miguel's chief operating officer refused to comment when asked if he or the food-and-beverage conglomerate would vie for the ownership of GMA7.
MediaQuest Holdings Inc., the media holding company of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund, tried to acquire 66.67 percent of GMA7 for P8.5 billion several years ago, but talks for the stake sale fell through.
Since then, MediaQuest bought ABC Development Corp., the operator of TV5. InterAksyon.com is TV5's online news portal.
Pangilinan was earlier quoted by News5 as saying the P60-billion asking price for GMA7 was "too much," way above a reported offer of P45 billion.
Gilberto Duavit Jr., GMA7 chief operating officer, responded in a press release that they are not in "serious negotiations" and that they have not yet received an offer price that is "acceptable" to them.
During the earnings briefing of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. on Wednesday, Pangilinan reiterated that there are no active negotiations with GMA7, citing his group's commitment to invest P6 billion to grow TV5 and Cignal, the Philippines' biggest direct-to-home pay-TV operator.
Ang and Pangilinan are perceived to be rivals in business, bidding for the same projects and companies.
Before San Miguel sealed the deal to acquire Philippine Airlines (PAL), Pangilinan was reported to have offered to buy the flag carrier.
"Walang naniniwala na magagawa natin yung PAL. Lalo na nung ginugulo na ng kung sinu-sino. Wala, kulang sila sa swerte. Kasi mabubuti kaming tao," Ang said. (Nobody believed that we could pull off what we did with PAL. Especially when it was being complicated by some people. Well, they ran out of luck. Because we're good people.)
InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS
BUSINESS NEWS
