PSE suspends trading of Liberty Telecom shares
THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange, Inc. ( PSE) has suspended the trading of shares in Liberty Telecoms Holdings, Inc. two weeks before its proposed delisting, leaving the overthecounter market as option for minority investors to exit the company.
In a statement issued over the weekend, the bourse announced its decision to suspend the trading of Liberty Telecoms’ shares following a voluntary tender offer by Vega Telecom, Inc. that pulled its public float below the 10% minimum requirement.
On Friday, a block sale was implemented for the acquisition of the shares tendered by minority shareholders to Vega Telecom in connection with the voluntary delisting procedure being pursued by Liberty Telecoms.
Vega Telecom exercised the tender offer from Aug. 24 to Oct. 20. Accordingly, Liberty Telecoms proposed to delist from the bourse on Nov. 21.
“While we encourage companies to continue to be listed, we respect the business judgment of listed companies to go private. Furthermore, we are in communication with the relevant regulatory agencies as regards the said transaction,” PSE Chief Operating Officer Roel A. Refran said in the statement.
Minority shareholders of a delisted company can still transact through the over- the- counter market or a dealer network, according to the PSE.
The decision to delist Liberty Telecoms came after the company’s parent was taken over by telecommunications giants PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. following a P69.1-billion deal with San Miguel Corp.
The new controlling shareholder and management of Vega Telecom then launched a tender offer for the remaining 12.82% stake comprising 165,883,221 common shares it did not own in Liberty Telecoms for P2.20 apiece.
The pricing then raised questions from certain minority shareholders, considering the allocation of frequencies, including a portion of the coveted 700-megahertz band, to Liberty Telecoms.
The frequencies, however, were transferred to associate Bell Telecommunication Philippines, Inc. as early as March 2015. Liberty Telecoms failed to timely disclose the transaction.
In an assessment letter dated Oct. 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) subsequently fined Liberty Telecoms with P346,000 for withholding information surrounding the reassignment of frequencies from the investing public.
The SEC, through its Markets and Securities Regulation Department, imposed the fine for the listed company’s omission to state a material fact in any filing required by the corporate regulator. Such a violation is penalized with P100,000 for the first offense plus P500 for each day of continuing violation
The corporate regulator, at the same time, reprimanded Liberty Telecoms for non-filing of current reports; incomplete quarterly reports for the entire 2015 and the first three months of the current year; and incomplete annual report. —