Japan's Kirin exits San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. on Friday has divested all of its stake in diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. San Miguel told the Philippine Stock Exchange that Kirin sold about 19.9 percent of the total issued and outstanding capital stock of the company to Philippine incorporated Q-Tech Alliance Holdings Inc., which includes investors from Bahrain. Q-Tech's president is Eric Recto, who is also the president of Petron Corp., the country's largest oil refiner. Kirin earlier said it will be selling the nearly 629-million shares for P63 per share or about P39.61 billion. The Japanese firm, in turn, has bought 43.25-percent share in San Miguel's beer unit San Miguel Brewery Inc. from the conglomerate for $1.2 billion, which will be paid in two tranches. Kirin's tender offer, meanwhile, had enabled it to acquire about 779-million shares more from SMBI for P6.9 billion. Together with the tender offer, Kirin now will hold 48.3 percent in SMBI. GMANews.TV