ABS-CBN Corp.’s stockholders approved on Wednesday, September 30 the P6 billion that will keep the media company going, and Leandro Leviste, who holds the largest stake in it outside the Lopez family, had no hand in putting the deal together. Five parties are providing the money, and he is not one of them.

The Batangas representative’s stake in ABS-CBN, which launched the political career of his mother, former news anchor Senator Loren Legarda, is heavily diluted. He shares the same fate as other public shareholders outside of the Lopez group and allies. His share of the common stock falls from 10% to 3.54%, while his true voting power drops from 4.74% to 2.54%.

The public did not get a chance to buy these new shares. Instead, this is a private deal arranged strictly between the legacy family and friendly incoming capital. Three Lopez family branch holding companies—Crème Investment, Mantes Corporation, and Presta Holdings—are buying primary common shares directly, alongside top holding vehicle Lopez Inc. Entering beside them is strategic turnaround firm I&C Holdings Corp., which is putting in P3.5 billion for 959 million shares to emerge as the single largest common shareholder.

Together, the Lopez family vehicles (around 61%) and I&C (27%) lock up roughly 88% of total voting power. That gap between owning ordinary shares and holding voting power is the whole point: common shares mainly give investors a claim on future profits and dividends, but voting power decides who actually controls the company.

Outside that circle sit public minority investors and Leviste. Without a single share trading hands, their holdings shrink both in value and in their already tiny say in the company as the share pie expands around them.

What management told shareholders

The capital increase passed on September 30 with 83% of the voting stock behind it, which is what Lopez Inc. at 78.4% and ABS-CBN Holdings at 4.83% add up to. It is likely that the shares being diluted did not vote for it.

The shareholders approved tripling the company’s authorized capital stock to P4.5 billion, and then management directly addressed the changes.

ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo L. Katigbak defended the move when asked what benefits minority shareholders can expect from the capital increase: “The increase in authorized capital stock will allow the infusion of the P6 billion in equity from our investors. The additional capital is expected to strengthen the Company’s balance sheet, support working capital requirements, and help fund the Company’s turnaround and initiatives. We believe these measures will enhance the Company’s long-term prospects and create value for all shareholders.”

For public minorities who were not invited to take part, company survival and avoiding loan defaults were offered as the reasons for being diluted.

Chairman Martin L. Lopez also made it clear where real control sits. When asked about governance and whether new investors would steer the ship, he drew a firm line: “Lopez Inc., together with its stockholders, Crème, Mantes and Presta, and together with ABS-CBN will continue to determine ABS-CBN’s strategic direction. The new major investor will be consulted and their rights will be respected.”

A Mother’s Day gift

Leviste moved quickly when he built his stake. On April 30, 2024, his investment vehicle LL Holdings reported holding 75.9 million ABS-CBN common shares and 619,000 Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) through parent firm Countryside Investments, giving him an initial 8.5% of the company.

He gave two reasons for buying, and he gave the warm one first: he timed the purchase around Mother’s Day as a nod to her mother, Loren Legarda, who anchored The World Tonight during his early childhood from 1986 until her 1998 Senate run.

“I told her that it was, of course, in time for Mother’s Day,” Leviste said in a May 16, 2024 interview on One News. Asked how she reacted, he replied: “I think that she, like others, would remark that it’s seemingly a risky investment because of the challenges of any media company nowadays but that… even a challenging market at the right price is worth looking, and that it’s very risky and that maybe buying land is a safer bet.”

Pressed on whether the purchase was opportunistic, he agreed: “A large part of ABS’s asset is also in real estate so that’s a good benefit in any company, that your primary business might encounter difficulties but you have some tangible asset underlying the company.” He added: “If there weren’t 10% or so of a company being sold at its all-time low that we wouldn’t have been able to and ended up acquiring that number of shares.”

When Leviste began accumulating in late April 2024, ABS-CBN stock was trading near historic lows in the P3.4 to P4.5 range. Once his initial 8.5% block was disclosed on May 2, the share price surged by 77% to close at ₱7.65 on June 4 as he rounded out his stake to 10%. Across that window, Leviste spent an estimated P300 million to P400 million assembling his position.

In an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel, Leviste laid out how he snapped up positions being offloaded by foreign investors: “That was more opportunistic, because the price had tanked, and typically companies in the Philippines Stock Exchange don’t have big blocks for sale, but there were foreign investors that were willing to get out at the price… They were actually selling in the market, and then they sold to some other investors, and then those investors were selling in the market as well.”

Part of that came from buying Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs). Under Article XVI, Section 11 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, mass media ownership is reserved 100% for Filipino citizens. Foreign funds cannot hold media shares directly. ABS-CBN Holdings issued PDRs so foreigners could collect cash dividends without holding legal title or voting rights.

Foreign institutional investors had been trimming their exposure to the instruments, and Leviste took advantage of that secondary-market liquidity to accumulate 2.3 million PDRs, holding them alongside 87.7 million common shares as of May 28, 2024. That foreign retreat has only continued since, with foreign-held ABS-CBN PDRs falling further from 41.6 million units at the end of 2025 to 26.4 million units by June 30, 2026.

Post-May 2024, Leviste converted those 2.3 million PDRs into direct common stock. Under local rules, only 100% Filipino nationals can surrender PDRs and take delivery of the underlying media shares. By converting, Leviste turned passive receipts into voting equity, bringing his total holding to 90 million common shares—a clean 10% common block.

Why 10% was never in control

Headlines in 2024 trumpeted that Leviste owned 10% of ABS-CBN, but the capital structure was engineered long ago to ensure common shares alone could never take control.

ABS-CBN carries two classes of voting stock: listed common shares with a par value of P1, and one billion unlisted voting preferred shares with a par value of just P0.20. Despite costing one-fifth the par value of common stock, each preferred share carries one full vote.

These preferred shares are unlisted, meaning no outsider can buy them in the open market. Private family holding vehicle Lopez Inc. holds 98.71% of them (987 million shares). The remaining around 13 million shares sit across brokerages and personal holdings. It was not a legal wall, but an unlisted closed door: no outsider could ever assemble a meaningful block of preferred shares.

Because voting power is calculated using both share classes combined (899.8 million common shares plus one billion preferred shares), the total voting denominator stood at 1.9 billion shares.

Against that total, Lopez Inc. commanded 78.4% of the vote. Leviste’s 90 million shares gave him 10% of the common stock, but only 4.74% of the total vote. He held no blocking minority, no swing vote, and no unilateral path to a board seat.

Separating economic returns from voting control has long been the setup in Philippine media. Leviste bought the economics because the economics were the only part for sale.

Why ABS-CBN needed money

What Leviste bought a tenth of was an earnings stream that stopped in 2020 and has not returned.

Since Congress denied its broadcast franchise in 2020, ABS-CBN has posted consecutive heavy losses: P6.09 billion in 2024, P4.72 billion in 2025, and another P1.83 billion in the first half of 2026. While content partnerships with GMA, A2Z, and Netflix generated cash flow, heavy operating overhead, talent payroll, and debt service continued to bleed money.

Common and preferred shareholders have received zero dividends since 2020. Cumulative unpaid preferred dividends climbed past P24 million.

Worse, ABS-CBN hit a debt wall: standstill agreements on P8.5 billion in bank debts with BPI and UnionBank had expired, and past-due liabilities were piling up. Without a primary capital injection, the broadcaster faced severe balance-sheet distress.

The fine print on the P6 billion

When a listed company needs equity, it typically holds a rights offering, giving all existing shareholders the legal option to buy new shares pro-rata and maintain their percentage stake.

ABS-CBN did not do that. Instead, it sold 1.644 billion primary common shares at P3.65 each to 5 chosen subscribers, citing an exception to the rights offering requirement under Philippine Stock Exchange rules. In a solvency crisis, an open rights offering carries heavy market risk: public shareholders, already nursing paper losses, might refuse to put up fresh cash, leaving the rescue underfunded.

The transaction is not P6 billion in instant bank cash, nor is the money sitting in escrow. Term sheets reveal that ABS-CBN has received P2 billion in upfront deposits upon signing:

• I&C Holdings paid a P1.5 billion deposit (against its P3.5 billion subscription).
• Lopez Inc. paid its full P300 million subscription upfront.
• Crème Investment (Geny Lopez line) paid a P100 million deposit (against P767 million).
• Mantes Corporation (Manolo Lopez line) paid a P100 million deposit (against P767 million).
• Presta Holdings (Prescy Psinakis line) paid no deposit (against P667 million).

The remaining P4 billion is deferred: Crème and Mantes pay their balances “on such date as may be determined by the Board of Directors,” making the remaining cash discretionary rather than an immediate delivery.

Leviste and the other minority shareholders were not invited to participate in the capital raise. In May 2024, he told reporters: “We want to buy more shares. If there will be shares available, then we will buy.” But the new shares were created exclusively for the five subscribers. Outside shareholders were never invited into the room.

How everyone got diluted

The expansion of the equity pie alters the corporate math for all outsiders:

Shareholder	Pre-deal common %	Post-deal common %	Pre-deal voting power	Post-deal voting power
Leandro Leviste (LL Holdings)	10%	3.54%	4.74%	2.54%
Lopez Inc.	~55.8%	~22.98%	78.4%	44.35%
I&C Holdings Corp	0	37.7%	0	27.06%
3 Lopez branches’ SPV (Crème, Mantes, Presta)	0.05%	23.7%	0.02%	17.02%
Other minority holders (excluding Leviste)	~25.4%%	~8.97%%	12.02%	6.44%
Total public float (“Others” in disclosure table)	~44.2%	~15.6%	16.75%	8.98%

Leviste’s common block falls from 10% to 3.54%, and his voting weight shrinks to 2.54%.

Other retail holders suffer the exact same proportional cut: their collective voting strength drops from 12.02% down to 6.44%. The line marked “Others” in ABS-CBN’s regulatory table reads 318 million shares before and after—the exact same shares, compressed from 16.75% of the company to 8.98% purely because the firm expanded around them. ABS-CBN summarized the impact to the stock exchange in six words: “The public float will be diluted.”

The transaction also closes the door on any outside boardroom clout. I&C Holdings comes in with 959 million common shares—more than 10 times Leviste’s 90 million shares. With I&C and the Lopez family vehicles jointly controlling 88% of total voting stock, Leviste’s ability to act as a swing vote or rally fellow minorities is neutralized.

Watching from afar

Leviste is likely watching this unfold from abroad. The Batangas representative has been out of the country since August, while he and Senator Legarda face a preliminary investigation before the Office of the Ombudsman regarding P10.44 billion in unpaid obligations tied to past solar projects—allegations both have rejected as baseless and politically motivated.

Because his shares are held through LL Holdings Inc., an appointed proxy can still vote his stake. But against an 88% insider bloc, the vote cannot change the outcome.

ABS-CBN gets the P2 billion in initial cash it needs to placate bank creditors and keep producing content. But the recapitalization underscores a familiar rule in Philippine business: in companies shielded by constitutional rules and dual-class voting shares, outside minority shareholders absorb the dilution, while the family and its chosen partners keep the keys. – Rappler.com

Lala Rimando wrote about Philippine business, and managed newsrooms, including Newsbreak, ABS-CBN, Rappler, and Forbes, for over 25 years. She’s now based in La Union, taking care of her mom with dementia, and working on the multimedia biography of the late John Gokongwei.