San Miguel quitting power business

Will focus instead on oil and gas ventures.

The Philippines’ San Miguel Corporation will sell its 32.8% stake in Manila Electric Company worth US$3.4 billion to fund its expansion in oil and gas.

San Miguel, the Philippines’ largest company by sales, own about 370 million Meralco shares. President Ramon Ang said overseas oil and gas fields that can produce a million barrel per day are projects that San Miguel plans to add to its portfolio.

San Miguel, which earned fame and fortune as a beer brewer, has since expanded into airlines, oil and energy to triple returns and bolster sales.

Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered Plc and UBS AG were tapped for the transaction in which a portion of San Miguel's stake in Meralco could be sold to another company and the rest to large institutional investors.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund San Miguel's oil and gas ventures, the report read.