Pension fund Government Service Insurance System said Wednesday it plans to remain a shareholder of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. even as the latter plans to delist from the local bourse.
GSIS said in a letter to the Philippine Stock Exchange it is aware of MPIC’s plan to delist from the exchange, and it intends to remain a shareholder after the infrastructure conglomerate’s voluntary delisting.
GSIS on Tuesday revealed that it purchased additional common shares in MPIC, resulting in aggregate holdings of 3.43 billion common shares, equivalent to 11.98-percent stake in MPIC.
“The GSIS understands that based on the PSE Rule on Minimum Public Ownership, any shareholder with a holding of 10 percent or greater of total issued and outstanding shares shall be considered non-public. Pursuant to this rule, GSIS understands that its shares in MPIC are now considered non-public shares,” GSIS said.
Based on this assumption, this will increase MPIC’s chance of proceeding with the planned delisting and comply with requirement for the delisting, which is to acquire 95 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.
The PSE rule on minimum public ownership states that shares are considered non-public when “shares held by government through government-run social funds, the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, when the acquisition is made with intention of acquiring significant influence over the management of the publicly listed company”.
A source from the Securities and Exchange Commission said, however, this provision could be subject to interpretation.
“Does GSIS intend to influence the MPIC’s management? Does GSIS have a director in the MPIC board? How can GSIS influence the management if they don’t have a board seat,” the source asked.
A consortium consisting of Metro Pacific Holdings Inc., GT Capital, Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Inc. and MIG Holdings Inc. is conducting a P55-billion tender offer to acquire all shares held by minority investors as part of MPIC’s move to delist from the local bourse.
MPIC has investments in power generation and distribution, water utility, toll roads, rail, healthcare, agriculture and real estate sectors.