Business Mirror
September 21, 2011
By Paul Anthony A. Isla
While their companies are fierce rivals in the country’s beer market, tycoon Lucio Tan has found a business adviser in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang.
Ang told reporters on Tuesday he is brainstorming with Tan on how to come up with new ideas and better solutions and ways to run PAL.
Ang made it clear he is in direct talks with Tan in a personal capacity and not as SMC president. He said he has a “personal” interest in the aviation industry but that SMC is not considering investing in the airline.
Ang said he is providing Tan with business and strategy advice and that there’s nothing wrong with him helping facilitate the entry of new investors. “I’m close to them so I’m helping them in whatever way I can. Certainly, Tan is not selling PAL,” he said.
While describing Tan as “rich and awash with cash” who does not really need anybody’s money, Ang said “if there is a foreign company willing to invest, then Tan is amenable to that, too.”
According to Ang, he heard “some famous foreign airlines” are interested to join and support Tan in his interests; he didn’t identify the airlines.
He even went further to say foreign airlines have approached and are in talks with PAL to discuss the likelihood of partnering with the country’s flag carrier. Asked for comment, Jaime Bautista, president of PAL, said it is no longer talking with a foreign airline, which he refused to name. He also said talks with a foreign airline were first initiated a year ago “when we were having labor problems.”
“For now I know the talks have not been revived,” he said in a text message on Tuesday. “Maybe if we start to implement the outsourcing [plan], talks may be revived.”
On October 1 PAL plans to cut 2,600 jobs to ensure its long-term profitability and curtail its mounting losses.
Speculations about a new investor in PAL resurfaced over the weekend when it was announced that Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. have formed a new aviation company by Pacific Global One Aviation Inc. PLDT President Napoleon Nazareno quickly dismissed talks on Monday that PLDT may invest in PAL. That same day Bautista also said he was not aware of any talks involving new investors, including Ang or PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.
On Tuesday shares of PAL Holdings Inc., which owns Philippine Airlines Inc., sank 3.2 percent to P6.12, the sharpest loss since August 25, after the BusinessMirror reported PLDT is not buying the airline.
Ang, who said he is “not interested to get in partnership with anybody”—a reference to the PLDT group—believes PAL might agree to have a foreign airline “or anybody” join the company. “But I don’t believe Tan will sell [PAL],” he said.
(With Lenie Lectura)
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