	compromise cited on san miguel shares san miguel corp smc and united coconut planters bank ucpb have reached a compromise on a disputed block of mln shares of smc the head of a government panel that controls the sequestered shares said ramon diaz chairman of the presidential commission on good government pcgg told reuters smc had offered a price of pesos per share for the block held in trust by the ucpb it looks good diaz said but he added several issues including the identity of the ultimate buyers of the shares had to be resolved before the pcgg gave its approval to the sale the pcgg s sequestration last year of mln shares aborted smc s bid to buy them back from trading companies in the ucpb group the commission said it suspected the shares were actually controlled by eduardo cojuangco an associate of former president ferdinand marcos cojuango who headed the boards of both smc and ucpb when he fled last year after marcos was toppled personally owned mln shares in smc his holdings are also under sequestration the shares that smc now proposes to buy from the ucpb are owned by mln coconut farmers diaz said naturally we do not want them to go back into the hands of marcos cronies pcgg sources said a compromise would end a row over a down payment of mln pesos made by smc s hong kong subsidiary neptunia corp ltd in a bid to buy back the shares last year the ucpb had said the mln peso payment would be forfeited because smc chairman andres soriano iii had failed to fulfil his commitment to buy back the shares at an originally negotiated price of billion pesos pcgg sources said smc the philippines largest food and beverage manufacturer has agreed to sell mln b class shares from the mln shares to australian brewer alan bond at a price of pesos per share the pcgg sources said of the proposed billion peso transaction billion pesos would be offset against the mln peso down payment the mln pesos worth of preferred shares in ucpb held by smc mln pesos in uncollected dividends on the ucpb shares and mln pesos advanced to ucpb controlled trading companies the ucpb rejected an original offer of pesos per share made by smc for mln shares which grew to mln after a pct stock dividend declared in june last year a spokesman for smc said the company s member board met today to discuss the proposed compromise the spokesman declined comment on the outcome of the board meeting saying the dispute was under arbitration president corazon aquino last month asked smc and ucpb to set up a three man arbitration panel to resolve the ownership issue the panel is due to submit its report by april eduardo de los angeles a government nominee in the smc board filed a formal complaint before the securities and exchange commission last week accusing soriano and eight other directors of violating fiduciary duty de los angeles was said to have opposed a decision by smc s board last december to assume the mln peso neptunia loan reuter 
