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Is the Lopez family saga over?
The sun did come out last Saturday, August 15, cheering us up with a glimpse of blue skies after days of bottomless rain. But Sunday turned dark again, with the southwest monsoon seen to dampen the week ahead.
What a week it’s been for the Lopez family and ABS-CBN, though.
The messy and noisy family feud that erupted five months ago came to a halt (or so it seems) through a sale: the Lopez cousins representing the branch descended from the late kapitan and ABS-CBN founder Geny Lopez sold their shares in Lopez Inc. — the parent company — to business tycoon Ramon S. Ang (RSA).
What RSA bought constitutes 25.68% of Lopez Inc., the family’s holding firm that is two layers above First Philippine Holdings (which controls energy firm First Gen), whose CEO is the other protagonist in the family squabble, Federico “Piki” Lopez.
What does the sale mean?
- Val Villanueva argued that by tracing the investment “through the layers of ownership and economic interest,” RSA’s purchase in Lopez, Inc. “may prove bigger than the percentage suggests.” Read more here.
- Lala Rimando pointed out that this is not the first time for RSA to be near a Lopez asset. Read more here.
Just four months ago, the Lopez cousins — Gabby Lopez on one side, Piki Lopez on the other — engaged in an ugly public fight over two things: the questionable entry of business tycoon Ricky Razon into First Gen Corporation, and Piki’s refusal to funnel more money to cash-strapped ABS-CBN, once the country’s biggest and most powerful network that had stared down presidents until Rodrigo Duterte came along and killed its franchise.
- As Lala put it, the cousins turned their boardroom fight into a “live lesson on how legal disputes, company statements, and headlines can become a teleserye.” Read more here.
- Gabby’s group (which was the majority) had pushed, through a resolution, for the ouster of Piki as president and CEO of Lopez, Inc. but withdrew it in May. The ceasefire was merely on paper, however, because the behind-the-scenes war persisted, according to this report.
- True enough, less than a month later, Gabby’s group issued a statement, calling Piki’s hydropower deal with Razon “horrible” and demanded an investigation. Previous to this, the Philippine Stock Exchange also sanctioned First Gen for failing to disclose a critical part of the Razon deal that Gabby’s group had exposed.
The months of June and July passed by quietly. We can now say that at the height of the feud, Gabby (who came home after a five-year hibernation in the US) and his cousin-allies were already set on what they considered the only way out of the mess: to sell their shares in the parent company to the best buyer.
Lala and I had a Zoom call with Gabby in April — all on background, which meant we could not write about it then. (Both of us had worked with him; Lala was business editor of ABS-CBN’s news portal, while I managed ANC, the company’s cable news channel). What’s the end game, we asked?
We’re the majority, Gabby reminded us, and “we’re going to prevail eventually.” Without mincing words, he said: “We want out. I want to sell. We’re done. We’re done.” He did not say who could be the buyer, but noted that there were only a few businessmen with interests in energy and infrastructure.
Of course, he said, he and his cousin-allies will keep ABS-CBN.
By July, rumors began to circulate about RSA buying into ABS-CBN — which is no surprise because, after all, he has been trying to own a media company for more than a decade already.
- As Lala wrote in this story, RSA “has chased a broadcast network, been rumored to be behind a cable news channel, and once got close enough to a newspaper deal…None of those closed.”
- Buying into the Lopez empire — via ABS-CBN or Lopez Inc. Which was the better bet for RSA? Read more here.
Alas, RSA eventually decided to buy shares in Lopez, Inc. as announced on Monday, August 10.
Two days later, on August 12, ABS-CBN said that three branches of the Lopez family (Gabby’s bloc) — Créme Investment Corporation, Mantes Corporation, and Presta Holdings Company Inc. — will be part of a P6-billion raise for new equity in the media company.
A little-known investment holding company, I&C Holdings Corp. will subscribe to P3.5 billion worth of shares, while Lopez Inc. will subscribe to an additional P300 million, the statement said.
Here’s the tricky part: I&C is associated with RSA; its incorporators are from a firm that have had major dealings with San Miguel Corporation, which he owns.
As explained by Val Villanueva in this piece, the recapitalization plan also could dilute other shareholders and would make I&C the largest single shareholder in ABS-CBN next to the Lopez family.
What did it take to save ABS-CBN? Lala tells us more in this piece.
So, is the Lopez family saga done? And did RSA get to have his cake and eat it too?
Meanwhile, let me take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathies to the family of award-winning poet and essayist Marra Lanot, who died on Sunday, August 16, at 82. Our hearts go out to her husband Pete Lacaba, our editor par excellence at the Gokongwei-owned Manila Times and Newsbreak magazine.
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– Rappler.com
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The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Rappler.
