PSE suspends trading in Picop Resources shares

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) suspended yesterday trading in the stocks of pulp and paper milling company Picop Resources Inc. (PRI) following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s confirmation that it has not yet granted an extension of Picop’s corporate life which expired last March 31.

PSE president Ernest Leung said in view of this development, trading in Picop shares will be indefinitely suspended pending the resolution of its case with the SEC.

SEC commissioner Jesus Enrique Martinez told the PSE that Picop has not been able to address the deficiency in the filing fee for its extension papers, even as the Commission had given the company 30 days from April 9 to rectify the situation.

"To date, no such rectification has been made by PRI and the Commission, by law, is deemed to have rejected or disapproved their application," Martinez said.

He added while letters of reconsideration have been sent by Picop’s counsels, the SEC "finds no basis to hold such letters as sufficient basis to stall the period within which PRI was required, by law, to have completed the filing procedure."

Prior to the expiration of its 50-year corporate existence on March 31, 2002, Picop’s board and majority stockholders had approved and filed with the SEC another 50-year extension on March 26, including the amendments of its articles of incorporation to reflect such an extension.

But Martinez said PRI "mistakenly" paid a mere P210 in the filing fee for the application which the SEC rejected, although PRI said it contested the amount on "good faith and tenable legal ground."

Sources said PRI, which has an outstanding capital stock of about P4.2 billion based on a P1 par value of its shares, could be assessed with a filing fee of as much as P12 million. PRI stocks, however, were last traded at only five and a half centavos each.

He added that the firm cannot depend on the six-month automatic approval by the SEC considering that the reason for the Commission’s inaction and its resultant rejection is the refusal of PRI itself to pay the corresponding filing fee.

"If the corporation had paid the required fee, even if under protest, the issue would have been viewed otherwise," Martinez noted.

However, the SEC official said Picop’s lawyers had called his office yesterday and informed him that the company would finally settle their filing fee deficiency. "We will acknowledge the payment and approve the extension of its corporate life but we are not confirming the validity of the actions of the company prior to the approval."

This means PRI’s legal personality as a de jure or a de facto corporation will not be retroactive from March 31 but only upon the SEC’s approval of its corporate term extension.

Picop operates its milling plant and wood plantation in Bislig, Surigao del Sur. Once Southeast Asia’s largest integrated wood and paper milling company, it was listed in 1973 and transformed into a holding firm in 1997 as it ventured into particleboard manufacturing and palm oil plantation.

In 2000, Picop generated total revenues of P2.422 billion but has remained in the red with net losses of P215.352 million.