Posted on October 05, 2012 08:06:26 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
CONGLOMERATE Alliance Global Group,
Inc. has raised its stake in its mid-range real estate arm, Megaworld Corp.,
after it converted roughly P3.07 billion worth of Megaworld warrants into
shares, the mother company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock
Exchange (PSE) on Friday.
"Alliance Global and its wholly
owned subsidiary, New Town Land Partners, Inc., exercised today (Oct. 5)
3,071,713,375 Megaworld warrants at the exercise price of P1 per share, for a
total exercise price of P3.0717 billion," the disclosure read.
A warrant is as a derivative security
issued by firms that gives holders the right to purchase securities such as
shares from an issuer at a specific price within a set period.
Back in 2009, Megaworld listed on the
local bourse 4.1 billion detachable warrants issued from a prior 4:5 company
stock rights offering. Megaworld had said it was expecting roughly P4 billion
in proceeds from the exercise of all the warrants, which would then be used to
finance capital and project expenditures from this year until 2015.
As a result of the equity conversion,
Alliance Global now holds 12,076,569,792 shares in Megaworld, up 34.11% from
9,004,856,417 shares held as of end-June, as reflected in a regulatory filing
filed that month.
Megaworld, incorporated in 1989 as
Megaworld Properties and Holdings, Inc., is currently engaged in the
development of large-scale, mixed-use master-planned townships, information on
PSE’s Web site showed.
Since its formation, the firm claims
to have launched approximately 225 residential, office, and hotel units,
bringing its aggregate property footprint to over 5.8 million square meters,
according to its end-June financial report.
Megaworld said last April was allotting
P25 billion this year to bankroll capital spending, with 11 residential
projects having been targeted for launch in the first half alone.
Alliance Global, incorporated in 1993
and listed on the PSE in 1999, had initial investment in glass-container
manufacturing in Canlubang, Laguna, according to information on PSE’s Web site.
It has grown into a holding company
engaged in food and beverage businesses, real estate, and quick-service
restaurants targeted at the country’s growing middle class.
The conglomerate earmarked last March
a P35-billion capital budget for 2012, to be sourced from internally generated
funds, mostly to fund the company’s ongoing real estate and tourism
developments.
The company grew its net income by
21.40% to P5.73 billion in the first half from P4.72 billion last year, its
latest financial statement showed. Its revenues rose 68.83% to P51.07 billion
from P30.25 billion in the same comparative periods, while costs and expenses
climbed 79.33% to P40.35 billion from P22.50 billion.
Shares of Alliance Global slid 1.89%
to P14.50 on Friday from P14.78 last Thursday, while those of Megaworld rose
3.06% to P2.36 from P2.29. -- F. J. G. de la Fuente
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