7 May 1998: Andres Soriano has been re-elected chairman of the Philippines“ biggest food and beer conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (see GlassOnline report of 30 April 1998).
Renato Valencia, the admin…
7 May 1998: Andres Soriano has been re-elected chairman of the Philippines“ biggest food and beer conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (see GlassOnline report of 30 April 1998). Renato Valencia, the administrator of Social Security System, which holds a 5% stake, was elected vice chairman. Francisco Eizmendi, an ally of Soriano, was re-elected president and chief operating officer. Other key San Miguel officials were retained in their positions. The re-election came a day after three nominees of Eduardo Cojuangco, the closest business ally of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and one-time San Miguel chairman, were voted onto the 15-man board. Cojuangco was ousted from the board during the 1986 popular revolt which toppled the iron-fist regime of Marcos. Soriano, whose family founded the small brewery by the turn of last century, holds about 2% of the company but has the support of the government, which has sequestered a 47% stake in San Miguel on suspicion that they are part of the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos. However, the government suffered the first in a series of setbacks when the Sandiganbayan granted Cojuangco“s plea to participate in proceedings on the strength of his 452 million shares, equivalent to three board seats. Barely 24 hours had passed after the anti-graft court issued its ruling when the Supreme Court en banc junked the Philippine Committee on Good Government“s petition for a temporary restraining order against the businessman and 43 other sequestered firms. At the meeting the company also approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of long-term commercial papers of up to Pso 2.5 billion and short-term commercial papers of up to Pso 1 billion. In addition, Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd has stated that it is still interested in acquiring San Miguel.