MPIC dumps 87.3% of ailing Nenaco

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the newly listed holding firm of Hong Kong's First Pacific Co. Ltd., on Thursday sold an 87.3 percent stake in ailing shipping firm Negros Navigation to Negros Holdings and Management Corp. The transaction will be done through MPIC's unit Metro Pacific Corp. The stake represents about 2.53 billion common shares in the shipping company. MPIC said the transaction will generate cash for MPC and P100 million worth of preferred shares. MPC will also remain one of Nenaco's main creditors, with P119 million in current receivables, and P211 million in long-term receivables. After the deal, Metro Pacific will be a minority shareholder in Nenaco, holding 15.3 percent of the firm. "As a continuing shareholder and creditor, we are committed to working with our new partners, and other stakeholders, to continue to restore the company to good health," MPIC president and chief executive officer Jose Ma. K. Lim said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. Negros Holdings is a company owned by members of Nenacos's current management. Metro Pacific officials have earlier disclosed that Nenaco's operating losses for the first nine months of the year, amounting to P235.4 million, was the reason behind Metro Pacific's reported P477.9 million-net loss in the same period. Originally, Metro Pacific Corp. was First Pacific's investment arm in the Philippines. However, in an effort to return to profitablity, management spun-off its earning assets like property firm Landco Pacific Corp. through a restructuring program into a new entity, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Prior to this transaction, Metro Pacific Corp. retained losing assets like Nenaco. -GMANews.TV