ISM Communications Corp raises capital to P3B

ISM Communications Corp. is raising its capital base to P3 billion from P1.2 billion to facilitate the private placement of shares to Ashmore Investment Management Ltd., one of Europe’s largest dedicated emerging markets funds with $32 billion under management.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ISM said its board approved the issuance of 16.5 billion shares to Ashmore worth $10 million (approximately P450 million) at P0.0274 each share.

With the purchase, Ashmore’s stake in ISM will increase to 31.3 percent.

ISM said proceeds from the issue will be used to fund its additional investments in telephone company Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (ETPI) and “related acquisitions in the information and communication industries”.

The capital hike is still subject to the approval of shareholders in a special meeting yet to be set by the company.

ISM is controlled by the group of former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin, who owns several other businesses which include Internet-based service provider PhilWeb Inc.

ISM owns more than 50 percent of ETPI which provides fixed-line services such as broadband Internet and data transmission.

ISM views ETPI as central to its long-term plan, started in 2002, to shift its business focus to operations such as pay-television, multimedia and information technology from mining.

The company is optimistic it can turn around ETPI, which has posted losses over the past five years because of a decline in demand for fixed-line phone service.

ETPI, which was previously controlled by Cable & Wireless Plc., is one of the oldest telecommunications companies in the Philippines. Its main sources of revenues are the carrier, data, Internet and voice businesses.

ISM was originally a mining company incorporated under the name Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc. before a memorandum of agreement gave PhilWeb the right to manage transformation of ISM to a company engaged in information technology, multimedia, telecommunications and other similar industries.