GMA’s Gozon: Purchase agreement with Ramon Ang ‘in the homestretch’

GMA Network Chairman and CEO Felipe L. Gozon on Friday said the purchase agreement of the company with San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang is "now in the homestretch," following delays caused by scrutiny over what he said were minute details in the deal.

 

In a press conference, Gozon said they are looking into signing the deal by month's end.

 

"It's been taking long, but we're now in the homestretch, and hopefully we will be signing the purchase agreement by the end of this month," he said, adding that Ang will be taking on a "very significant minority stake."

 

GMA Network's top official disclosed that the delay is due to scrutiny of Ang's camp regarding the small details in the agreement.

 

"It's the nitty gritty—the small but's and the commas and all that," he said. "Well, it's a big amount that we're talking about, so I can't blame them also."

 

"But for me, the issues are not significant," he added.

 

In May, Gozon confirmed talks with Ang have started in January, and later added that negotiations were "progressing smoothly."

 

Gozon's remarks came three months after businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan's offer to buy a minority stake in GMA Network lapsed.

 

In June, Ang said the purchase was "a done deal," which was affirmed by the broadcast company in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. 

 

The deal is "subject to the final terms and conditions of the share purchase documents which the parties are presently negotiating," it said then. —KG, GMA News