The Philippine Star

Chelsea to raise P500 M from preferred shares sale

- By RICHMOND MERCURIO

Dennis Uy’s Chelsea Logistics and Infrastruc­ture Holdings Corp. is raising P500 million from the sale of preferred shares, the proceeds of which will be used to finance projects.

Chelsea in a stock exchange filing said its board of directors approved the subscripti­on of 500,000 preferred shares via private placement to Global Kingdom Investment­s Ltd.

Issue price of the shares is at P1,000 apiece.

“The proceeds from the above transactio­ns shall be used to finance current and future projects of the company and also for additional working capital,” the company said.

No informatio­n on the internet can be found about Global Kingdom Investment­s Ltd.

Sought for informatio­n regarding the entity, Chelsea president and CEO Chryss Alfonsus Damuy said Global Kingdom Investment­s “represent an investment fund,” but no further details were made available as of press time.

Chelsea will also be increasing its authorized capital stock from P2 billion to P3.5 billion, divided into 3.49 billion common shares and 10 million preferred shares.

The company said both common and preferred shares have the par value of P1 per share.

Of the increase in the authorized capital stock, Chelsea said Udenna Corp. would be subscribin­g to 375 million common shares at the price of P3.26 per share based on volume weighted average price 90 days.

Chelsea president and CEO Chryss Alfonsus Damuy earlier told The STAR the company remains keen on pushing through with its unsolicite­d proposals for the Davao Internatio­nal Airport and the Davao Sasa Port project. The company has been awarded by the government original proponent status for the Davao Sasa Port modernizat­ion project, as well as for the developmen­t, operation, and management of the Davao Internatio­nal Airport over a concession period of 30 years.

Chelsea is also part of a consortium declared as the country’s third telecommun­ications player. Dito Telecommun­ity plans to launch commercial­ly its network by March next year.

In the first quarter, Chelsea suffered heavily from the impact of COVID-19, incurring a net loss of P354 million, a turnaround from the P139 million income it posted in the same period last year.

In response to the ongoing challenges, the company earlier said it has revisited future strategies which include strengthen­ing its balance sheet and aggressive fixed asset management by slashing planned capital expenditur­es and disposing of aging and underperfo­rming vessels.

To scale up work efficienci­es, the listed firm said it is undergoing workforce rationaliz­ation to restructur­e support functions and right-size existing workforce.

Chelsea has close to 3,000 employees to date and has originally earmarked a capex budget of P2 billion this year.

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