Premiere Horizon to be included in global equity index

MANILA, Philippines — Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. (PHA) is set to be included in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific on the FTSE Micro Cap and FTSE Total Cap.

The inclusion takes effect on March 19, PHA said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

The FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific, excluding Japan and China, is closely tracked.

“The FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS) provides market participants with a series of seamless global equity benchmarks for use in the development of institutional investor policy directions and as the basis for index-linked products,” PHA said.

PHA made it to the index after it was able to hurdle the requirements for index inclusion such as eligibility screening in terms of minimum voting rights, minimum free float and foreign ownership, a minimum investable market cap of $25 million and liquidity thresholds based on median daily trading volume per month.

PHA, which has an average daily trading volume of P190 million, announced earlier that SquidPay Technology Inc. (SPT), a leading fintech company, will be acquiring 55 percent ownership of PHA for P925 million.

To date, the P300 million cash payment has been completed and the balance of P625 million will be a combination of cash and SPT shares.

PHA is a listed investment holding company, which is involved in contract mining through its subsidiary, Premiere Georesources and Development Inc. (PGDI); real estate development through its subsidiary, Goshen Land Capital Inc. and tourism estate development through its subsidiary, West Palawan Premiere Development Corp (WPP).

At present it is currently transforming WPP into PHA Land, a real estate development company, which would be its vehicle to pursue countryside and township development, first home residential and co-living projects, resort and leisure destinations, and light industrial logistics hubs.

Aside from these existing businesses, PHA also recently announced its venture into agritech through its subsidiary PHAgriForest.