A. Brown hikes capital stock to P1.62B

MANILA, Philippines - Listed holding firm A. Brown Co. Inc. has secured regulatory approval increasing its authorized capital stock to more than P1.62 billion.

In a disclosure, A. Brown said the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the higher capitalization for the company at P1.62 billion from P1.32 billion.

“The executive chairman of our Board of Directors, Dr. Walter W. Brown, was the sole subscriber to the increase in capital to replace the shares sold by him on behalf of the corporation in connection with the private placement which was completed in October this year,” the company said.

Specifically, Brown bought 76.366 million common shares out of the capital increase.

In October, the holding firm raised P720 million in new funds from a top-up placement of shares to select institutional investors and qualified buyers.

Under this scheme, A. Brown’s controlling shareholder lent out secondary shares for sale at P2.89 apiece and then subscribed to the same number of shares at the same price.

“The shares to be issued out of the increase in capital will be applied for listing with the Philippine Stock Exchange as soon as the supporting documents are prepared,” A. Brown said.

Bulk of the fresh capital will be used to finance the company’s stake in Palm Concepcion Power Corp., which is building a 135-megawatt clean coal-fired power plant in Iloilo at a cost of P12.5 billion.

The project, in partnership with the Ayala family’s AC Energy Holdings Inc. and Jin Navitas Resource Inc. of Rebisco Biscuit Corp., will start commercial operations in 2016 – in time for the anticipated tight power supply situation in the Visayas grid.

While the Visayas power grid has stable supply of electricity, it will need additional power plants in the next five years to cope with the growing demand for power from consumers.

Apart from power generation, A. Brown manages a 2,200-hectare palm plantation in Mindanao, with its own milling operations and an oil processing plant scheduled to be operational in the first quarter of 2013.

The company is planning to build up its plantation area to 10,000 hectares by 2020.