San Miguel Seeks to Buy 51% of Bumi

San Miguel Corp., the largestPhilippine food and drinks company, said it wants to buy at least
51 percent of PT Bumi Resources, Asia's largest exporter of power-station coal.
Manila-based San Miguel made the announcement today in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, The Philippine company said yesterday that it will make acompeting bid for Bumi after the exporter's parent, BT Bakrie & Brother, agreed to sell its stake to Northstar Equity Partners for $1.3 billion to repay debt.
San Miguel is seeking to expand into the faster-growing energy, property and mining sectors in a bid to boost earnings. The company said last month that it also wants to buy shares in Petron Corp. and Manila Electric Co., the largest Philippine oil refiner and power distributor.