SM Group heir Henry Sy Jr. making a P146 million bid to acquire investment holding company UEM Development Philippines which he will use as one of his vehicles to carry out forays in infrastructure and public utilities.

In a statement, Sy said he has personally obtained a binding commitment to acquire 22.5 million common shares of UEM for P65 million from five shareholder groups, which represents approximately 45.5 percent of UEM.

Since the acquisition represents more than 35 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the company, Sy will undertake a tender offer to other UEM shareholders in accordance with the Securities Regulation Code.

With a total outstanding capital of 49.47 million shares the total acquisition cost of the listed entity would reach approximately P146 million.

The Securities Regulation Code on mandatory tender offers states that, “any person or group of persons acting in concert who intends to acquire 35 percent or more of equity shares in a public company shall disclose such intention and contemporaneously make a tender offer for the percent sought to all holders of such class.”

“We believe that there are several large ticket infrastructure investments in the very near term given the new Government’s initiative to partner with private entities. We would like to participate in a number of these privatization and infrastructure projects,” Sy said.

UEM is a listed investment holding company incorporated in 1970 and listed in May 1972. The company’s last active trade was in Jan. 28, 2008 at P2.50 per share.