Manila Electric, First Holdings fall after stake deal

MANILA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - First Philippine Holdings (FPH.PS) and Manila Electric Co (MER.PS) each fell over 7 percent in early trade on Friday after the conglomerate forged a $471 million deal to sell half of its stake in the power retailer.

First Holdings slipped to as low as 53.50 pesos ($1.1) before paring losses to reach 55.5 pesos, down 4.3 percent, in the first 20 minutes of trade.

Manila Electric dropped to as low as 202 pesos, down 8.6 percent.

"Some speculators opted to take profit," said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Holdings. "They are taking a breather after 4 to 5 days of (corporate) stand-off."

On Thursday, First Holdings said it would sell a 6.7 percent stake in Manila Electric Co to Metro Pacific Investments Co (MPI.PS), boosting the control of the PLDT group (TEL.PS) on the utility. [ID:nMAN304602]

Metro Pacific was down 1.59 percent at 0152 GMT as the main index .PSI was largely flat.

(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema)