Ashmore offers to buy out Petron

U.K.-based Ashmore Group said that it has offered to buy the remaining 60% stake in Philippine oil refiner Petron for nearly US$827 million, which would give it full control of the company. SEA Refinery Holdings B.V., a company owned by Ashmore Investment Management Limited, agreed to buy a 40% stake in Petron for US$550 million from Saudi Aramco earlier this year. In a report filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Petron said that SEA Refinery has issued a tender offer of Php6.531 (US$0.15) per share for the refiner’s remaining shares from June 16 to July 14. State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. holds the same amount of shares in Petron, while the remaining shares are listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Francis Lim, PSE president, earlier doused apprehensions that the tender offer of the Ashmore Group may run afoul of a provision of the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, which requires that at least 10% of oil companies’ shareholdings be in public hands. In June, PNOC gave up its preemptive right to buy Saudi Aramco’s stake in the oil firm, paving the way for the Ashmore group to buy into Petron. (June 13/14, 2008)