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Saturday, April 19, 2014

Does Lopez Holdings Corp (LPZ:PM) own ABS-CBN Corp (ABS:PM) or is it Lopez Inc.?

Happy Easter! Yep it's holy week and I'm spending my time digging in to Philippine stocks and LPZ (Lopez Holdings Corp) caught my eye.

Let me disclose that it was my thinking that LPZ owns some ABS (ABS-CBN Corp) hence the idea of buying ABS cheaper by buying LPZ shares instead came to being. But digging deeper, it appears that LPZ has no ownership in ABS, and that what owns ABS CBN Corp is Lopez Inc. and not Lopez Holdings Corp.

First let's clearly define the three companies mentioned:

1. Lopez Holdings Corporation (LPZ:PM) (formerly Benpres Holdings Corporation) - is a publicly listed holding company incorporated in 1993 by the Lopez family to serve as the holding company for investments in major development sectors such as broadcasting and cable; telecommunications; power generation and distribution; manufacturing and property development.

2. Lopez Inc. - is a private holding company of the Lopez Family which owns 52.6% of Lopez Holdings Corporation.

3. ABS-CBN Corporation (ABS:PM) - is a publicly listed company and the country's largest media conglomerate. It is currently involve in broadcast radio and television as well as cable television (SkyCable, Creative Communications, Inc.), television programming, films, publishing, licensing, and websites

**Note that if you're a retail investor, you can only buy/sell shares of LPZ and ABS but not Lopez Inc.

My concern here is looking at Lopez Holdings Corporation's "portfolio" page in their company website. It says the following:


Lopez Holdings Corporation (formerly Benpres Holdings Corporation) was incorporated in 1993 by the Lopez family of the Philippines to serve as the holding company for investments in major development sectors such as broadcasting and cabletelecommunications, power generation and distribution; and banking. It added to its portfolio, investments in other basic service sectors but has since sold its direct interest in banking, toll roads, information technology, property development, cable and health care delivery.
 Broadcasting & Cable
  • ABS-CBN Corporation: The largest news and entertainment content provider in the Philippines that produces multimedia programming for domestic and international audiences. 
  • Sky Cable Corporation (controlled by ABS-CBN Corporation): The largest cable operator and pioneer of high definition television in the country, offering value added broadband internet and voice over internet protocol. 
Telecoms
Power and Energy
Property Development
Manufacturing



It implies that Lopez Holdings Corp has some form of ownership in ABS-CBN, this is also the case when you check LPZ's financial statements. See Lopez Holdings investor relations page.

But, when you dig deeper and see ABS CBN's list of largest share holders, Lopez Holdings Corp is no where be found, what we see however is Lopez Inc.

What this means is if you think that when you buy LPZ shares gives you an exposure on ABS, ownership wise, that may not be the case.

Though let me clarify that I am not yet sure if there's some cross-ownership between LPZ and Lopez Inc. giving LPZ an indirect ownership in ABS as well. But for now these things just doesn't seem to reconcile.

Perhaps a more informed reader and follower of Lopez companies could shed light of this matter? Just hit comment section below.


ABS-CBN Corp Top 20 Common and Preferred shareholders as of 31-Dec-13
(Source: ABC-CBN Corp 2013 Annual Report)





DISCLAIMER: 
This is not an investment advice and the author shall not be responsible or liable for any trading or investment decisions made based on this information.
The author hereby expressly disclaims any responsibility for any error or inaccuracy in the information.

3 comments:

  1. I'm back as well... Pls check mine at www.financePH.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is what I read on their Investors FAQS:

    What is the percentage ownership of Lopez Holdings in the various companies?

    As of December 31, 2013

    ABS-CBN BROADCASTING CORP.
    BAYAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS CORP.
    FIRST PHILIPPINE HOLDINGS CORP. 56.0%
    47.3%
    46.0%





    Who can I contact about specific investor relations questions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Thank you for your inputs. I believe you can contact their Invest Relations.

      Here's the contact info link:

      http://ir.abs-cbn.com/contacts.html

      Cheers

      Delete