Benpres sells more Digitel shares

Benpres Holdings Corp., the investment holding firm of the Lopez group, sold six million shares in Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) through the stock exchange, generating P9.6 million from the sale.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Benpres said proceeds will be used to fund working capital requirements.

Benpres said it was not aware of the identity of the buyer of the shares.

The shares sold are equivalent to 0.09 percent of the total issued and outstanding shares of Digitel based on the outstanding shares of 6.36 billion as of Dec. 31, 2005.

Benpres explained that this number of shares does not reflect the dilution from the parent company zero coupon convertible bonds and DCPL zero coupon convertible bonds as disclosed in Digitel’s audited financial statements for 2005.

Benpres has been selling its shares in Digitel through the PSE. The company earlier sold 17.7 million shares in Digitel, accounting for 0.279 percent of the outstanding shares of the telecommunications firm as of end-2005. The total value of the shares disposed amounted to P23.7 million.

The divestment was in line with ongoing efforts to sell non-core assets to pare down debt. Other assets up for sale include Bayan Telecommunication Inc., Beyond Cable Holdings Inc. and Rockwell Land Inc.

Benpres hopes to trim its debt to $200 million by the end of the year through the restructuring of its loans over a 10-year period. Ferrier Hodgson Corporate Advisory (WA) Pty Ltd. is the current financial adviser of Benpres while White and Case provides legal advice.

Among the other options being considered to trim debt is sale of secondary shares by First Philippine Infrastructure Development Corp.

Benpres reported a net profit of P2.98 billion in the first nine months of the year or more than three times the P899 million posted the same period a year earlier, boosted by foreign exchange gains.

The company generated P588 million in foreign exchange gains as the peso appreciated to P50.21 per US dollar in September 2006 from P53.09 in December 2005 compared to P56.01 in September 2005 from P56.28 in December 2004.

Also boosting Benpres‚ nine months‚ performance is the equity share in net earnings of investees (73.6 percent) after First Philippine Holdings Corp. booked a one-time gain on dilution of its equity interest in First Gen Corp. amounting to P2.7 billion with First Gen’s initial public offering in February 2006.

Consolidated revenues rose two percent during the period under review to P12.95 billion from the restated P12.72 billion in 2005. The 2005 figures were restated to reflect the deconsolidation of Maynilad Water Services, Inc., pursuant to the water utility’s court-approved debt capital and restructuring agreement.