Philippines' San Miguel to cut share sale of food unit

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MANILA/SINGAPORE - Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp is likely to cut the number of shares being sold in its food unit due to weakness and volatility in the stock market, sources with knowledge of the deal said on Thursday.

The sale of a minority stake in San Miguel Food and Beverage is part of San Miguel's restructuring plan that was announced last year.

On Thursday, San Miguel President Ramon Ang offered varying statements to reporters about potential pricing, saying both that the shares could be priced at 90 to 100 pesos and that they could be priced between 85 and 100 pesos.

That compares with a regulatory filing figure of up to 140 pesos per share for the offering, a premium of about 75 percent to the unit's trading price at the time of the announcement of the plan.

Regulatory filing prices are, however, often set far above expected bookbuilding ranges in the Philippines.

"Weakness in stock markets has put further pressure on the pricing," said one source, who did not wish to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Current expectations for the number of shares to be offered were not immediately available.

The sources said San Miguel is likely to set a price range this week with final pricing due later this month.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Anshuman Daga; Additional reporting by Julia Fioretti in Hong Kong; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)