San Miguel confirms talks with RPN-9 owner still ongoing

MANILA, Philippines – Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. confirmed that it remains keen on a stake in one of the owners of financially-strapped and partially state-owned media network RPN-9.

In a disclosure to the stock market on Wednesday, October 31, San Miguel said it is “in talks with Mr. Wilson Y. Tieng and Solar Entertainment Corp.”

Tieng is the president of Solar, which now controls 34% of RPN-9.

In an interview with reporters, Tieng was quoted as saying, “We’re happy to hear that Mr. [Ramon] Ang is interested in investing in Solar. There were talks also before. Maybe we just need time to sit down because I know he’s been very busin and so are we.”

“There’s already a meeting of minds, then probably we will decide. Probably we will sell part of our holdings. We don’t know yet how much, but as I said we’re still in negotiation,” Tieng added.

Only last October 4, San Miguel president Ang said he is initially looking at a personal stake in the media firm.

Cash-strapped RPN-9 is letting go of about 200 jobs, has converted billions of pesos of debts into equity, resulting in the entry of Solar and Benedicto-led Far Eastern Managers and Investors Inc.

The government’s stake has been whittled down to 20.8%. – Rappler.com