By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The
Philippine Star) | Updated November 27, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - JG Summit
Holdings Inc., the investment holding firm of tycoon John Gokongwei, has raised
nearly P9 billion from an overnight share sale.
This marked the second major
fundraising of the conglomerate to pay for the P72-billion worth of minority
stake in power distribution giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
In a regulatory filing, JG Summit said
it sold on Monday 220 million shares “via an accelerated overnight equity
placement at a price of P40 per share through a placement of 98.08 million
treasury shares and an additional placement of 121.91 million common shares
from selling shareholders.”
JG Summit raised P8.8 billion from the
share sale. The stocks were sold at a 4.07-percent discount to the P41.70
closing price on Monday.
“The proceeds from the offering will
be used to partially fund the Meralco acquisition and for general corporate
purposes,” JG Summit said.
“The transaction was done in order to
widen the shareholder base of the company, and as a response to strong demand
for the company’s stock,” it added.
CLSA Ltd. and UBS AG acted as joint
bookrunners for the overnight transaction.
Late in September, the Gokongwei
family’s listed holding firm struck a deal to buy a 27-percent stake in Meralco
for P72 billion from San Miguel Corp., which is focusing on various investment
opportunities like infrastructure projects and oil and gas acquisitions.
JG Summit earlier announced its plan
to secure two-thirds of the purchase price through bank loans and bond
issuances while the remaining amount would be financed by equities.
Last month, JG Summit unloaded a
portion of its stake in snacks giant Universal Robina Corp. for approximately
P12 billion.
For its part, JG Summit will again be
partnering with the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. In 2011,
telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) acquired
Sun Cellular operator Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. from the
Gokongwei family through a P69.2-billion shares-wap deal.
JG Summit is also venturing into
infrastructure projects as it formed a joint venture firm with Pangilinan-led
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. to bid for the expansion and operation of the
P17.5-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport.
In the nine months to September this
year, JG Summits profits slipped 21.8 percent to P8.41 billion from P10.76
billion a year ago due to depreciation of the peso against the dollar.
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