Metro Pacific to delist from Philippine Stock Exchange

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. announced Thursday its plan to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange, with its major shareholders preparing to buy all common shares held by the public.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Metro Pacific said it received a tender offer from its major stockholders, namely Metro Pacific Holdings Inc., GT Capital Holdings Inc., Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Inc. and MIG Holdings Inc.

The plan is to take Metro Pacific private through a voluntary delisting process. According to Metro Pacific, the consortium of major stockholders would buy out minority stockholders at a price of P4.63 per common share. Shares in Metro Pacific finished trading last Wednesday at P4.26 each.

This will “allow existing shareholders to sell their common shares and realize their investment, in cash, at a premium to the current trading price of the common shares,” the company said.

The conglomerate owned by Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim and chaired by Manuel V. Pangilinan did not give a reason for the move. The company’s stock price has been on a downtrend since mid-2016.

In a separate statement, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. — the parent of Mit-Pacific Infrastructure — said the tender offer would allow it to "acquire a portfolio of assets" in Metro Pacific, including core infrastructure assets like power, water and highways.

Trading of Metro Pacific shares was suspended for the entire day to give investors time to digest the news.