MPIC shareholders approve delisting

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has moved a step closer to becoming a private company as its shareholders yesterday approved the voluntary delisting of the company’s shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

In a special shareholders’ meeting yesterday, MPIC shareholders, representing 77.72 percent of the firm’s outstanding shares, voted in favor of the delisting.

“We are pleased with the result from the MPIC shareholder meeting, which allows the tender offer to begin, the ultimate objective of the vote today. Since announcing our offer price, we have received favorable feedback from the market, with institutional investors and stock brokerages stating that it is fair and acceptable. Therefore, we look forward to a successful completion of the delisting transaction,” said Christopher Young, executive director of First Pacific.

Following this, the voluntary delisting process will commence on August 9 to September 7 and the effective delisting will be on October 9, said Stanley Yang, representative of MPIC’s majority shareholders.

The bidders or majority shareholders of MPIC are offering minority shareholders a take it or leave it, best and final price of P5.20 per share to acquire their shares.

The price of P5.20 per share represents a premium of 37 over the one-year volume weighted average price (VWAP) of P3.80 per share and a premium of 39 percent over the three-year VWAP of P3.75 per share, Yang explained yesterday.

The bidders are First Pacific Company Limited (First Pacific) through its affiliate, Metro Pacific Holdings Inc., GT Capital Holdings Inc., a consortium including Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and MIG Holdings Inc. (MIG).

Under the tender offer, the bidders will spend up to P54.8 billion or $986 million for the remaining shares held by the minority shareholders of MPIC.

To comply with the voluntary delisting requirements of the PSE, the common shares to be tendered in the tender offer, together with the common shares owned by the bidders and the qualifying common shares of MPIC’s directors, should constitute at least 95 percent of the total outstanding common capital stock of MPIC, or such percentage as the PSE may allow, to effect the voluntary delisting of MPIC from the PSE.

“Allowing MPIC to become private again will permit the company to focus on delivering long-term benefits to various stakeholders inherent in the infrastructure assets it holds and operates,” said Francisco Suarez Jr., CFO of Ty-led GT Capital, the second biggest shareholder of MPIC.

As a conglomerate, MPIC has historically traded at a steep discount to the underlying value of its assets with a one-year VWAP to April 26, 2023 of P3.80 per share reflecting recent market sentiment.

To comply with the voluntary delisting rules, a PSE-accredited independent financial advisor was appointed by the bidders and produced a report with a valuation range of P3.37 to P5.10 per share.

Following a period of consultation after the earlier tender offer announcement, the bidders last month raised their tender offer price to P5.20 per share from P4.63 each.

The higher price is aimed to provide an improved path for minority shareholders to exit their positions at a sizable premium to market price.