Leviste taking control of Roxas Holdings for P5 B
Young billionaire Leandro Leviste’s Countryside Investments Holdings Corporation has signed a term sheet with tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan to invest P5 billion for an initial 71.6 percent in Roxas Holdings Inc.
Countryside’s investment will help Roxas Holdings service debt to avoid bankruptcy, increase tax revenues of the municipality of Nasugbu, and create more and better jobs for the benefit of local farmers and former sugar industry workers, Leviste said in a Facebook post.
Roxas Holdings currently has debt amounting to P4.4 billion owed to banks including Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), BDO Unibank, Inc., and Land Bank of the Philippines, and P1.4 billion of trade payables.
The land of Roxas Holdings is beside the approximately 2,494 hectares owned by Roxas and Company Inc. (RCI), another beleaguered Roxas company.
RCI was recently served a notice of collection and threatened with foreclosure over unpaid real property taxes by the municipality of Nasugbu. This comes amid a longstanding land dispute between RCI and an estimated 50,000 residents and agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Once the largest integrated sugar company in the Philippines, Roxas Holdings owns Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc., a former sugar refinery and sugar mill, and 236 hectares in Nasugbu, Batangas.
Roxas Holdings shut down its sugar business in March 2024 after 97 years in operations. Roxas Holdings also owns San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc., a bioethanol plant in Negros Occidental.
RCI currently owes P4.3 billion of debt to banks, with approximately half owed to BPI, including debt secured by RCI’s disputed lands.
BPI has approximately P4.3 billion of debt exposure between RCI and Roxas Holdings. The Ayala bank's debt exposure to RCI includes a P228 million loan due since August 2023 and a P474.5 million loan due since September 2023 that remains outstanding.
Prior to the Roxas Holdings deal, Leviste has become the largest individual shareholder of RCI, acquiring 10 percent of its outstanding shares.
In compliance with Section 19 of the Securities Regulation Code, Leviste also recently disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission his intention to increase his stake in RCI to over 15 percent.
These investments form part of Countryside’s plan to invest over P5 billion to develop Leviste’s home province of Batangas. Countryside previously stated that its investments are aimed at solving social issues.
The company believes that equitable compensation and partnering with local communities are keys to ensuring the success of any investment, he said.
Leviste will fund this investment from the proceeds of the sale of shares in SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC) to Pangilinan’s Meralco PowerGen Corporation, which, along with Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, have purchased shares in SPNEC for P20.4 billion to date. Most of SPNEC’s assets are in Nueva Ecija, where the company is developing a 3500-hectare solar project.
SPNEC also owns and operates a 63 MW solar farm in Calatagan, a neighboring town of Nasugbu, Batangas. In an earlier interview, Leviste said that some of the lands of Roxas Holdings would be suitable for solar farm development.