Philtread management shakeup in offing

A management revamp in Philtread Holdings Corp. is in the offing as a group led by ATR-Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. is poised to take a controlling stake in the company with the purchase of additional shares for nearly P450 million.

Based on its disclosure at the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philtread said a total of about 50 million common shares taken from the company’s increase in capital stock will be subscribed by ATR, Motherwell Inc. and Francisco Colayco for P9 each, effectively making the group 50 percent owners of Philtread.

ATR will hold the largest interest at 39.42 percent; Motherwell, 6.24 percent; and Colayco, 4.34 percent. The stake of Philtread’s single biggest stockholder Philex Mining Corp. in turn, will be diluted from 49.49 percent to 24.76 percent while that of tiremaker Bridgestone will be reduced from 26.27 percent to 13.14 percent.

As a result of the buy-in, the publicly floated shares will also be trimmed from 24.23 percent to 12.12 percent.

ATR is a leading Philippine Investment house and securities brokerage firm whose major shareholders include the Gokongwei group, A. Soriano Corp., National Bookstore, Marsman-Drysdale and US-based businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis.

Established in 1993 as the local arm of the Hong Kong-based Peregrine group, the company was acquired in 1998 by local investment bankers Ramon Arnaiz, Manuel Tordesillas and Lorenzo Roxas together with US-based private equity fund Gilbert Global Equity Partners Inc. In the same year, Singapore stockbrokerage firm Kim Eng Holdings took a 43.03 percent stake in the company.

Philtread said with the proceeds of the share purchase, the company will be making new investments in pursuit of its primary purpose as an investment holding company.

These new investments include the purchase of 61.35 percent of Net Curricula Inc., an online tutorial company, for P135.41 million and a 10-percent stake in courier service LBC Global Ltd. for P300 million. Both investments will be acquired from the ATR group to complete the swap.

LBC Globa, based in Delaware, USA, is the ultimate holding company of the various LBC subsidiaries in different locations locally and worldwide.

Philtread said the excess cash of P14.587 million will be placed in reserve for its working capital and future investments.