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Philippine corporate giant, San Miguel Corp. (SMC), has been diversifying from its traditional business of food and beverages. It has been expanding to other areas such as road projects and power generation. Because of this, the company is looking to sell a minority stake in its main businesses to raise funds which will be used on their diversification prospects.

Ferdinand Constantino, SMC spokesperson, said they are selling a portion their equity stake in San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc., Ginebra San Miguel Inc., as well as its packaging international beer operations, where they are expecting to raise $600 million.

On top of the planned asset sale, the company is also in negotiation with some banks where it hopes to tap a $600-million three-year loan facility to funds its ongoing diversification.

The conglomerate is said to be in talks with Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Corp., and three other interested investors on the potential sale of up to 49 percent of its food unit San Miguel Pure Foods, which has a market capitalization of about $200 million.

Likewise, it is also negotiating with some foreign companies as potential partners on a strategic investment in its hard liquor unit Ginebra San Miguel, whose market capitalization is about $100 million.

Recently, SMC was able to acquire a foothold in the lucrative power generation business when it took over the 620-MW Limay diesel-run power plant and the contract to manage the 1,000-MW Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan. The company also bought out the 27% stake of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) at Meralco in October last year, giving it an influential voting bloc.

The conglomerate also has an option to buy a majority stake in the country’s biggest oil refiner Petron Corp.

Constantino said the company is still on the lookout for possible new ventures after its recent acquisition of interest in toll road and power business. He added SMC was “evaluating a possible investment in the mining industry for the development and exploration of new gold and copper mine in the southern Mindanao region which has an estimated ROE (return of equity) of 20 percent.”