Philippine National Oil lets Ashmore buy Petron stake

MANILA, May 12 (Reuters) - State-run Philippine National Oil Co's (PNOC) board approved the recommendation of the firm's financial advisers to allow the sale of Saudi Aramco's 40 percent stake in oil refiner Petron Corp (PCOR.PS: Quote, Profile, Research) to London-based investment fund Ashmore Group (ASHM.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

PNOC, which also holds 40 percent of Petron, has the first right on the Petron shares being sold by Saudi Aramco but the oil firm's advisers said it would be too costly for the government to buy the shares.

Aramco has said it will sell the Petron stake at $550 million. (Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)