THE board of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) approved on Tuesday plans to list separately the company’s domestic beer operations and packaging business at the stock exchange.

For the beer operations, part of the plan is to spin-off of San Miguel Beer Domestic and the forming of a strategic partnership with Japan’s Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. San Miguel Beer Domestic would then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC while Kirin, a strategic investor of SMC since 2002, would own a 20-percent stake in the beer company.

“We are looking to unlock the potential and underlying value of the entire San Miguel Group. This is something we have been looking at for some time now and with this spin-off, we reach another milestone in our long-range plan to transform San Miguel into a more disciplined, high-performing company,” said president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang in a statement.

As for the packaging business, SMC said it has signed on April 27 an agreement with long-time joint venture partner Nihon Yamamura Glass for a 35-percent equity infusion in the business.

“An IPO would generate for each business much needed equity and allow it to grow faster and partner more effectively with other world class players like Kirin and Nihon Yamamura Glass,” Ang added.

The board also approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital from 4.5 billion to 7.5 billion shares, equivalent to P37.5 billion at par value to fund the group’s planned acquisitions and expansion into other businesses as well as pay down debts and finance possible share buy-back.

The move would allow SMC to issue 1.5 billion preferred shares as part of the capital raising exercise. Two years ago, SMC sought a waiver for the shareholders’ preemptive rights on the “issuance of any class of preferred shares related to equity-linked or other securities, for property needed for corporate purposes.”

On Monday, the BusinessMirror reported that SMC was planning to make investments in new businesses, including power generation/transmission, mining, water and infrastructure.

The company said, though, it would still need to do further studies and feasibility analysis to pinpoint the key opportunities in the proposed new businesses.

“The board decided it was timely to actively consider developing new engines of growth to further increase the gains realized from nurturing its current core businesses,” SMC said.

The group’s product portfolio includes beer, hard liquor, carbonated and noncarbonated nonalcoholic beverages, processes and packaged food products, meat, poultry, dairy products and various packaging products.

SOUTHEAST Asia’s largest food and beverage company San Miguel Corp. (SMC) booked a net profit of P4.33 billion for the first quarter of 2007, up 100 percent from P2.17 billion in the same period last year.

SMPH says net profit up at P1.5B

MALL developer and operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) reported on Tuesday an 11-percent increase in net profit from January to March this year to P1.5 billion on the back of higher mall rentals boosted by its newly opened stores.

THE board of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) approved on Tuesday plans to list separately the company’s domestic beer operations and packaging business at the stock exchange.

THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), the nation’s largest company by market value, posted a net income of P8.6 billion in the first quarter of the year, little changed from a year earlier.

A corporation formed or organized under the provisions of the Corporation Code of the Philippines may be dissolved voluntarily or involuntarily (Sec. 117, Corporation Code of the Philippines).