CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang has been elected as a member of the board of directors of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).
This was confirmed by SMC on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023, in a disclosure to the stock exchange in response to news that billionaire Ang will acquire an equity stake in MPIC at the invitation of tycoon Manuel Pangilinan. Ang was elected to MPIC’s board last Oct. 17, marking the businessman’s “indirect investment” into MPIC.
This development was seen by the industry as a major breakthrough especially since once fierce rivals will now become close business allies.
“We further advise that San Miguel has not made any investment in MPIC. To date, there have been no developments relating to the Nasugbu Bauan and the Cavite Batangas Expressway Projects of MPIC and the SMC Infrastructure Group. San Miguel shall make disclosures to the Exchange in the event there are material disclosable developments pertaining to such tollway projects,” the company said in the disclosure.
MPIC is the company behind the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway through its subsidiary, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp.
Ang’s entry into MPIC is seen as a prelude to the eventual merger of the toll road businesses of both conglomerates, SMC Tollways and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., into one huge company.