Posted on
February 28, 2013 10:22:56 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
PROPERTY
DEVELOPER Alphaland Corp. has formally asked the Philippine Stock Exchange
(PSE) to lift its current trading suspension after the firm raised its public
ownership level to meet the bourse’s requirement.
“Alphaland wishes to inform the PSE that it
has complied with the 10% MPO (minimum public ownership) requirement. Enclosed
with this letter is a Secretary’s Certificate executed by the undersigned
certifying to the foregoing facts,” Alphaland said in a disclosure yesterday,
saying it now has a 10.53% float from 8.3% as of end-2012.
“In this
regard, Alphaland respectfully reiterates its request for the exchange to lift
the trading suspension imposed on the company’s shares for its previous
noncompliance with the MPO requirement.”
Hans B.
Sicat, PSE president and chief executive officer, said in an interview last
Wednesday that Alphaland needed to present a Secretary’s Certificate before its
trading suspension could be lifted.
PSE officials
were not immediately available for comment yesterday.
On Thursday
last week, Alphaland announced it had complied with PSE’s MPO rule when
offshore unit Alphaland Holdings (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. sold on Dec. 31 last
year 49.61 million common shares at P19 apiece to an undisclosed buyer.
Alphaland
also paid last month P186,030 in documentary stamp tax and a P44.64-million
capital gains tax for the share sale as part of sanctions for failing to comply
with the MPO rule by the end of last year. Like other noncompliant firms,
trading on its shares was also suspended.
Alphaland,
formerly known as Macondary Plastics, Inc. is a joint-venture between
London-based private equity fund Ashmore Group and Ongpin-led RVO Capital
Ventures Group.
Its shares
were last traded on Dec. 28 last year at P19.50 apiece. -- F. J. G. de la
Fuente
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