Confusing public ownership reports

Shouldn’t these companies that listed either all or only some of their outstanding common shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) come out only with “number of issued shares” minus number of treasury shares to come out with “the number of outstanding shares”?

The reporting system tends to confuse rather than inform the public of any change in the public ownership in listed companies. It becomes even worse when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tolerates the practice that has been going on for years.

If the SEC and PSE are interested in making the stock market more investor-oriented, their monitoring teams may want to explain the meaning of these entries in the PORs. Why, for instance, combine “issued and common” shares number categorized as “outstanding common shares”? Is this is not “double entry” of terms?

Thank you, Mr. Ongpin

Businessman Roberto V. Ongpin is the only principal stockholder PhilWeb Corp. He owns 771.652 million common shares, or 53.76 percent of 1.435 billion outstanding common shares, of which he - mon shares.

In the same POR, PhilWeb reported PhilWeb Casino Corp. and Pure Corporate Investments Ltd. as direct stockholders with 260.392 million common shares, million common shares, or 0.9 percent, respectively.

PhilWeb’s board is composed of 11 directors who, together, hold 2.67 percent. Among them, Dennis O. Valdes, is the single biggest stockholder with 23.757 million common shares, or 1.66 percent.

As a listed company, PhilWeb attributed to the public the ownership of 352.213 million common shares, or 24.54 percent.

Incidentally, Mr. Ongpin, who is PhilWeb’s majority stockholder but is not a member of the board, emailed me for a piece I wrote on Wednesday. He wrote:

“Just a note to congratulate you on an excellent article in your column today entitled ‘ Sin of omissions by listed companies.’ “Well done! “Bobby Ongpin” Thank you, Mr. Ongpin, for including Due Diligencer in reading The Manila Times.

Paper wealth

Businessman Alfredo C. Ramos increased the number of common shares he owns in Anglo Philippine Holdings Corp. to - tional shares at P1.10 each in the open market. He bought 100,000 shares on March 14; 51,000 shares on March 15, and 49,000 shares on March 16. At the closing price of P1.10 on Wednesday, his paper

As of March 15, Ernesto O. Ang is president and chairman of the board of Primex Corp. He directly common shares or 12.916 percent, and 170,133,335 common shares or 10.524 percent, respectively, for shares, or 23.44 percent. At the stock’s closing price of P4.39 on Wednesday, he is a billionaire with

As of Sept. 30, 2016, Jerry C. Angping directly owned 327.1 million common shares, or outstanding common shares, in Nihao Mineral Resources International Inc.

In a statement of changes in Angping reported the same number of shares he still directly holds today. In addition, he disclosed his direct and indirect holdings in Nihao Mineral, which he said in percent, following his acquisition of additional common shares at various prices ranging from a low of P2.06 to a high of P2.24 apiece. At Nihao’s closing price of P2.19 on Wednesday, Angping had

Of course, Ang of Primex and Angping of Nihao Mineral may even be multi- billionaires on paper and may remain so because they are not selling.