Metro Pacific board greenlights voluntary delisting

MANILA, Philippines — Conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is pushing through with its plans to take the company private after securing its board’s approval on Monday.

In a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, MPI said they received an updated tender offer from a consortium composed of Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc., GT Capital Holdings, Inc. (GTCAP), Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings, Inc. and MIG Holdings Inc. This updated tender offer notice takes the place of the initial filing back on April 26. 

Broken down, the notice from the consortium of major shareholders indicates their plan to make a tender offer for all the common shares of MPI. This move will take the Pangilinan-led conglomerate private by way of delisting voluntarily from the local bourse. 

A separate disclosure sent by GTCAP on Tuesday indicated that this consortium of bidders pumped their tender offer price to MPI shareholders to P5.2 apiece. This was a higher bid compared to an earlier price of P4.63 per share back on April 26. 

“Due to the transaction timetable, approvals, and regulatory requirements of the entire process across multiple jurisdictions, there will be no further opportunity to adjust the price,” said  Christopher H. Young, executive director of First Pacific. 

The tender offer, per MPI’s latest disclosure, will cover all outstanding common shares, besides common shares owned by the consortium and qualifying common shares of the conglomerate’s board of directors. 

The conglomerate announced in April plans of going private. To this end, the move reflected concerns about the conglomerate’s share price.

MPI scheduled a special stockholders’ meeting on Aug. 8, where the conglomerate will secure the approval of their shareholders for their plans to go private. 

Once shareholders approve their plans, the conglomerate said the consortium of bidders will “launch the Tender Offer immediately.” 

MPI chairman, president, and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a disclosure in May that the tender offer and voluntary delisting from the PSE will allow the conglomerate’s minority shareholders to rake in premiums over the historical share prices of the company. 

Trading of MPI shares was suspended on Tuesday after the conglomerate requested a voluntary trading suspension to let investors digest their latest moves.