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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Lopez holding firm withdraws move to delist from exchange

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The Lopez family dropped plans to delist the shares of its listed holding company from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Lopez Holdings Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange unit First Philippine Holdings Corp. reduced the number of shares it was planning to acquire from the conglomerate via tender offer, dispensing with the need to pursue a petition for voluntary delisting.

An amended tender offer that FPHC would file with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed it would now purchase up to 1.567 million common shares, representing 34.5 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Lopez Holdings.

The reduction will remove the risk of Lopez Holdings’ public float falling below the required 10-percent minimum public ownership.

“We wanted to remove the seeming pressure that some shareholders of LPZ may have felt from the plan to delist the company. We want the market to freely decide if they want to avail of the tender. It bears stressing that the tender offer price is at a significant premium to the market price right before the tender was announced and is even at the higher range of the valuation provided by the independent financial adviser, KPMG, as accredited by the Exchange,” FPHC president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said.

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FPHC reported in November it was planning to acquire a minimum of 20 percent and a maximum of 45.56 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Lopez Holdings at P3.08 apiece.

FPHC’s move to acquire additional shares in Lopez Holdings aimed to streamline its corporate structure by reducing the number of group holding companies listed on the exchange from two to one.

Meanwhile, the tender offer period will start on Jan. 22, 2021 and end on Feb. 19, 2021. The tender offer price of P3.85 represents a 41-percent, 43-percent and 36-percent premium over Lopez Holding’s 3-month, 6-month and 12-month volume weighted average price.

The tender offer excludes the shares owned by ultimate parent entity Lopez, Inc. which agreed not to tender its common shares, under such terms and conditions as FPHC may determine, and as may be required and in accordance with law.

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