PAL to delist within the year

MANILA, Philippines - PAL Holdings Inc., the parent firm of national flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), is delisting its shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) before the end of the year as it is having difficulty meeting the free float minimum requirement of 10 percent.

PAL president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang told the company’s stockholders yesterday that the company is not likely to be able to comply with the end of the year deadline set by the PSE.

The PSE is giving companies whose shares are being traded at the bourse until Dec. 31 to raise their free float to at least 10 percent.

“Because we cannot comply with the PSE, we are taking the voluntary delisting of PAL Holdings,” Ang told the company’s stockholders yesterday.

He explained that the airline would opt to voluntarily delist from the PSE so that it could again make a comeback list of its shares at the bourse to be able to raise additional funds through the equities market.

Data from the PSE showed that PAL Holdings has a market capitalization of P40.66 billion and has 5.42 billion outstanding and listed shares equivalent to a free float of 2.3 percent.

Ang said PAL Holdings would likely make a comeback at the PSE once it returns to profitability with its ongoing massive re-fleeting program aimed at acquiring 100 aircraft.

Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) acquired a 49 percent and management control in the national flag carrier. It is also looking at delisting San Miguel Brewery Inc., San Miguel Properties Inc., and San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. as these companies are also not likely to meet the deadline.

San Miguel Brewery has a market capitalization of P530.12 billion but has a free float of only 0.61 percent while San Miguel Pure Foods has a market capitalization of P150 billion but a free float of only 0.08 percent.

San Miguel Properties, on the other hand, has a market capitalization of P66.93 billion but has a free float of only 0.06 percent.

San Miguel Brewery’s operations extend from its domestic base throughout the Asia-Pacific: China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. From the original cerveza brewed in 1890, San Miguel has since produced a wide range of popular beverage products which are runaway market leaders in their respective product categories.

San Miguel Pure Foods offers a diverse array of food products spanning across the entire value chain ranging from B-Meg feeds and San Miguel Mills flour to Purefoods hotdogs, Magnolia chicken or Monterey ready-to-eat meat dishes.

Although initially established to be San Miguel Corp.’s corporate real estate arm, San Miguel Properties later diversified into commercial property development in market opportunities.