Pepsi Cola PH board approves shares delisting

Beverage manufacturer Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc., which is majority-owned by South Korea’s Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. Ltd., said Thursday it will delist its shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

PCPPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board of directors approved the voluntary delisting of shares from the main board of the PSE after its public ownership fell below the required 10 percent.

“Considering the level of its public ownership and the prevailing market conditions, it will not be able to comply with the minimum public ownership requirement by 18 December 2020,” PCPPI said.

PCPPI said it would also file a petition with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the voluntary revocation of registration of securities and permit to sell securities.

The public float of PCPPI fell to 2.1 percent in June after Lotte Chilsung conducted a tender offer to increase its stake in the company to 69.5 percent.

Quaker Global Investments B.V., the wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc. which owns a 25=percent stake in PCPPI, did not participate in the tender offer.

After to drop in its public float, the PSE immediately suspended the trading of PCPPI shares.

Lotte Chilsung said PCPPI would remain the exclusive bottler in the Philippines of PepsiCo’s beverage brands Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7-Up, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, Tropicana, Sting and Aquafina.

PCPPI reported a net loss of P429 million in the first half, a reversal of the P446-million net income in the same period last year as the quarantine restrictions imposed by the government in mid-March in response to the pandemic limited consumer movement and consumption.

First-half revenues also declined to P15.3 billion from P18.4 billion a year ago.

The PSE issued proposed amendments to its voluntary delisting rules in December which focused on changing the required approvals and tender offer price.

The PSE wants companies to gain the approval of all independent directors and stockholders that own at least 75 percent of its total outstanding and listed shares. The company should also ensure that votes against the delisting plan would not exceed 10 percent of a company’s total outstanding and listed shares.