A. Brown to hike stake in Transco owner

MANILA, Philippines- Local holding firm A Brown Co. Inc. on Friday reported that it is almost doubling its stake in Monte Oro Resources and Energy, a part-owner of the country's power transmission company. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, A Brown said its board approved on Friday the purchase of additional 90.5 million shares in Monte Oro Resources worth P228.3 million. This almost doubles A Brown's stake in the parent firm of the National Transmission Corp. from 94.2 million shares to 184.72 million shares. A Brown said it would pay for the additional shares in three tranches, the first tranche or 40 percent worth P90.5 million will be paid on or before June 13 while the second tranche or 30 percent worth P67.88 million will be paid on July 11. The balance worth P67.88 million will be paid on August 15. Earlier, ABCI said it will be swapping assets for additional shares in its subsidiaries to raise funds for its participation in the consortium that won the bid for TransCo. A Brown owns 18.74-percent interest of Monte Oro Resources, which owns Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. that, in turn, owns 30 percent of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. This is the concession company of the consortium that won the bid for TransCo in December last year. The other members of the consortium are the Calaca High Power Corp. and State Grid Hong Kong Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of State Grid Corp. of China. The group outbid San Miguel Energy Corp., Dutch firm TPG Aurora BV and Malaysia's TNB Prai Sdn Bhd with its $3.95-billion offer for Transco. - GMANews.TV