PSE readies P2.87 B stock rights offering

IN BIDDING BATTLE WITH LANDBANK

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has firmed up the terms of its rights offering.

It will offer 11.5 million shares to eligible shareholders of record as of March 1, 2018. The offer period will be from March 12 to 16, the PSE said. At an offer price of P252 per share, the PSE hopes to raise P2.87 billion from the share sale. Proceeds will be used to fund the acquisition of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDS Group) and its capital expenditure requirements.

The PSE is acquiring the PDS Group, the operator of the fixed income exchange.

It, however, needs to reduce its ownership of the stock exchange to 20 percent first to proceed with its plan to merge the two exchanges.

Under the Securities Regulation Code, no single industry or business group should own more than 20 percent of an exchange.

The PSE wants to merge the two exchanges to be at par with global practices and to deepen the country’s capital markets.

“The company is determined to complete all the phases of its compliance plan, particularly the stock rights offering, being one of its major components. Thus, the company is hopeful it will obtain the exemptive

relief from the SEC soon, which will then pave the way for the finalization of the acquisition of additional shares in PDS Holdings Corp.,” the PSE said. The PSE will be competing with state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, which is also planning to acquire the PDS Group. The Securities and Exchange Commission said both the PSE and Landbank would need exemptive relief to acquire the PDS Group.