The completion of an upsized $198 million exchangeable into Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company PLDT yesterday January 11 may signal that First Pacific is back on the acquisition trail again.
With an order book that closed three times covered, the deal is also likely to be viewed as a huge success. This is because it shows just how far the First Pac group has been able to transform its fortunes since 2002 when it was embroiled in a major liquidity crisis and very public spat between its major shareholder, Anthoni Salim and executive chairman Manny Pangilinan.
Nevertheless, the UBS-led deal still ranks as one of the...
