SEC okays Atlas capital increase to P30B

Manila, Philippines - Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. has obtained the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nod to raise its authorized capital to P30 billion from P20 billion, completing its equity restructuring program.

The quasi-reorganization also involved the subsequent decrease in the par value of its shares from P10 to P8 each, as well as the full elimination of the firm’s accumulated deficit amounting to P12.7 billion through the application of its additional paid-in capital.

Following the completion of the equity restructuring, Atlas is now able to accrue retained earnings from net income that may be allocated for the distribution of dividends to stockholders.

Last year, Atlas and its subsidiaries posted consolidated earnings of P15 billion. Of this amount, P2.5 billion is attributable to the net income of wholly-owned subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp. which may be earmarked for the declaration of dividends to Atlas.

Atlas is a partnership between the Ramos family, which owns the chain of National Bookstores, and the SM Group of retail tycoon Henry Sy.

The Sy family, through its listed flagship holding firm SM Investments Corp., currently holds 28.43 percent of Atlas after purchasing P5.34 billion worth of convertible loans held by its banking unit Banco De Oro Unibank.

The Consunji family likewise owns a minority interest in Atlas with its recent purchase of a 5.3 percent stake for P16.50 each share or a total of P1.58 billion.

Carmen Copper, which operates the Toledo mine in Cebu, reported a three-fold jump in net earnings last year to P2.54 billion as revenues grew 41.2 percent to P12.5 billion. Core income surged 59.5 percent to P2.28 billion.

Carmen Copper is targeting 28 to 30 shipments of copper concentrates this year, with an estimated value of $300 million. Three shipments were made in April with total volume of 14,824 dry metric tons (DMT), all of which were consigned to Chinese smelters and shipped through MRI Trading

The shipments yielded 8.58 million pounds of payable copper, worth $34.66 million. This was based on provisional and hedged prices of $3.79 per pound of copper.

Carmen Copper aims to raise its current throughput capacity of 40,000 to 42,000 tons per day to 60,000 tons by 2014.