BIZ BUZZ: Panicking lenders call Lopez execs

With the legal dispute among the Lopez cousins now out in the open, nervous creditors exposed to the Lopez Group have been burning the phones lines, demanding answers from corporate executives.

“What’s happening?” is invariably their first question, quickly followed by “what’s going to happen?”, given what’s at stake.

To recall, cousins led by Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III voted in February to oust their cousin Federico “Piki” Lopez as president of privately held Lopez Inc., the ultimate parent company of all the Lopez Group companies that include Lopez Holdings Corp. (formerly Benpres Holdings)., First Philippine Holdings Corp., First Gen Corp., Energy Development Corp and ABS-CBN Corp.

Piki, however, stays as president for now after securing last week a preliminary injunction that stops the Gabby camp from enforcing the resolution that called for his ouster and replacement by Gabby’s younger brother, Rafael.

That Piki will keep his post for the time being has done little to ease the grave concerns of lenders, who fear that the family dispute will eventually spill over to the operating companies themselves, thus posing a risk to their profitability.

Indeed, while the injunction prevents Piki’s ouster—allegedly because of his refusal to funnel P2 billion of Lopez Inc reserve funds into ABS-CBN—it does not mean that there will be no more attempts to kick him out.