Philex sells shares to firm owned by First Pacific

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp., the Philippines’ largest miner, said it sold its treasury shares to Asia Link B.V., a company wholly-owned by First Pacific Co. Ltd. on November 28. Comprising 20.06 percent of Philex’s total stocks, the sale of 778,620,792 shares was bought at P7.92 each, amounting to a total of P6.166 billion, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Shares of Philex rose to P5.50 during Friday’s trading at the PSE, higher than Thursday’s price of P4.90. In a special board of directors’ meeting held the same day, the company also elected Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan and Robert C. Nicholson as Philex directors. Pangilinan and Nicholson are nominees of Asia Link, the company said. Philex also said that Guido Alfredo A. Delgado resigned from the board. Besides being Chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Pangilinan also serves as Chairman of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC), Smart Communications, among others. Meanwhile, Scotland-born Nicholson currently serves as a Commissioner of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk. He is also a board member of First Pacific, among others. - GMANews.TV