Seacem unloads stake in Lafarge

MANILA, Philippines - Southeast Asia Cement Holdings Inc. (Seacem) will transform into a shell company suitable for backdoor listing as it plans to unload its shares in cement maker Lafarge Republic Inc.

This as the board of directors of Seacem authorized the sale of 1.113 billion Lafarge shares to Calumboyan Holdings Inc. (a majority shareholder of Seacem) and South Western Cement Ventures Inc. (a majority stockholder of Lafarge).

It will also sell up to 100 million shares in Lafarge to the public, including qualified institutional investors, while all 25 million shares in subsidiary Seacem Silos Inc. will also be unloaded.

To date, Seacem owns 1.163 billion shares in Lafarge.

“Seacem’s sale of Lafarge and Seacem Silos shares will give Seacem the flexibility to restructure the financial position of its assets or for its major shareholders to enter into transactions with third parties interested in purchasing Seacem,” the company said.

This leaves the company with no assets and ready for a firm wanting to list in the local bourse via the backdoor route.

A backdoor listing, which offers a cheaper and faster way to achieve listing status, occurs when a listed firm is acquired by an unlisted firm and the merger will result in a change in business.

The listed holding firm has yet to determine the exact number of Lafarge shares to be sold.

Seacem booked P3.753 billion in profits last year, more than five times the P669 million a year ago “largely due to the equity in the net profit to its associate Republic Cement Corp.”

Republic Cement, now known as Lafarge, was incorporated in 1955 to primarily engage in the manufacture, development and sale of cement, marble and all other kinds and classes of building materials. Its plants are located in Bulacan, Batangas and Rizal.

Lafarge is beefing up its production capacity by an additional one million metric tons of cement per year starting in the first quarter. The expansion is mainly driven by the strong demand for building materials owing to a huge backlog of construction projects.