Roxas Holdings firms up P1-B stock rights offer

Sugar firm Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) has firmed up the details of its P1.1 billion stock rights offering.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), RHI said it would offer 265.97 million in new common shares to existing shareholders at one share for every 4.33 common shares held.

RHI, which is controlled by First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, said the offer price would be set on April 27.

Net proceeds from the offer will be used to partially pay the loan obligations of Roxas Pacific Bioenergy Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of RHI.

The proceeds of such loan were used to partially finance its acquisi- tion of San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. in April last year and acquire an additional eight megawatt steam turbine generator for sugar milling and refining, the company said.

The loan was also to install a heavy-duty pressure feeder to the sugar plant milling equipment.

RHI is an integrated sugar company that has expanded into bioethanol and co-generation. Together with its affiliate, Hawaiian-Philippine company, it is among the biggest raw sugar producers in the country with a combined capacity of 36,500 metric tons cane per day.

It has mandated BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as its underwriter for the offer.

First Pacific, chaired by telecoms magnate Manuel V. Pangilinan, raised its stake in RHI to 50.9 percent, making it the biggest shareholder group.

From October to December last year, RHI incurred a net loss of P125 million, a reversal of the P9 million profit booked a year earlier.

The company’s fiscal year starts in October.