Interesting times

I AM neither an accountant nor a mathematician nor an investment banker. But I am curious, extremely curious, about the Dec. 12 news report on Bobby Ongpin’s bank loan.

I wish figure wizards could do the computation for me. If my reading is right, Ongpin purchased a total of 550 million Philex Mining shares. The price per share that he paid was P12.75. But Ongpin sold the same shares of stock to Manny Pangilinan for P21 each. If we subtract P12.75 from P21, our difference is P8.25.

Now, if we multiply the difference by the volume of shares sold to Pangilinan, which totaled 550 million shares, does it mean Ongpin made a whopping (rounded off) P4.538-billion profit from a single transaction?

If so, I have twin questions:

1. How much did the former shareholders earn when Ongpin bought out their shares at P12.75;

2. How much did the government lending institution earn from lending that money to former Trade Minister Ongpin?

Corollary to the above, did the former shareholders of Philex Mining and the government bank that granted the loan get a proportionate share of profit the former trade minister earned?

We are in interesting times …

—BOB GABUNA,

[email protected]