EEI’s CEO buys Romualdez’s 20% stake

EEI [EEI 4.20, up 6.1%] [link], the Yuchengco Family’s construction arm, notified the exchange that its own President and CEO, Henry Antonio, has purchased a 20% stake in EEI from RYM Business Management (RYM), the company owned and controlled by Martin Romualdez. This is a management buyout (MBO), where the company’s management group (in this case, just its President/CEO) purchases a significant stake. RYM purchased the shares that will be transferred to Mr. Antonio back in April 2023 for P1.25 billion, which at the time was a 24% premium over the pre-announcement market price of EEI’s shares.

MB bottom-line: In my (limited) experience, MBOs were used to streamline control of a company that had too many stakeholders. It’s one potential financial solution to the “too many cooks in the kitchen” problem, and one that shareholders are probably fairly open to as it maintains the status quo (provided that’s what they want). I guess the overall issue is that EEI has been trash since the RYM stake sale was announced. Back then, the stock pumped 118% in just a few weeks on that news, but never really seemed to get any traction. Aside from a rally in early 2024, EEI’s market value has steadily dropped back down to the pre-RYM level. Interestingly, while this stake sale was a surprise to the public, it doesn’t seem to have been a surprise to everybody, as one or more Paul Atriedes types saw the future and spent the last 10 days bidding the stock up about 25%. I’d love to know what wormsign these traders used to time this action so sweetly. The PSE really is an inhospitable desert, and we must move like Fremen across its vast dunes to preserve our moisture and bring glory to our bloodlines.

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