Lopez Holdings to delist from PSE

Lopez Holdings Corp., the Lopez-owned media and power giant, is set to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) as part of the group’s efforts to consolidate its empire.

The move comes after Lopez Holdings media subsidiary ABSCBN lost its 25-year franchise to operate in May.

First Philippine Holdings Corp. will do a tender offer to acquire 909 million common shares to two billion common shares, representing 20 percent to 45.56 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Lopez Holdings. The tender offer price is P3.85 per common share.

First Philippine Holdings president and COO Francis Giles Puno said the move is part of the Lopez family’s efforts to consolidate and to streamline the group’s corporate structure.

“If successful, the tender offer will result in the delisting of Lopez Holdings as part of the Lopez Group’s effort to consolidate the ownership of Lopez Holdings and to streamline the Lopez Group’s corporate structure by leaving only one Lopez-owned holding company First Philippine Holdings listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange,” Puno said.

Given this time of uncertainty, “the tender offer will give Lopez Holdings’ minority shareholders the immediate opportunity to liquidate their investment at a significant premium to current market price,” First Philippine Holdings said.

The tender offer price of P3.85 represents a 25 percent premium over Lopez Holdings’ closing share price of P3.08 on Nov. 27, 2020, and a 41 percent, 43 percent and 36 percent premium over Lopez Holdings three- month, six-month and 12-month volume weighted average price of P2.74, P2.69 and P2.82, respectively.

The company’s tender offer price also represents a 22 percent premium over Lopez Holdings’ six-month closing high of P3.15.

However, the tender offer will not cover the shares of the ultimate parent company Lopez Inc. which agreed not to tender its common shares.

The tender offer is targeted to commence on Jan. 22 to Feb. 19, 2021.