Firm sets capital restructuring

Holding firm Millennium Global Holdings Inc. (MG), formerly information technology firm IPVG Corp., is embarking on a capital restructuring to either wipe out or at least reduce about P2.8 billion in capital deficit.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Monday, MG said it was undergoing the equity restructuring through a reduction in the par value of its shares from P1 to P0.10 each. By bringing down the par value of shares, the company will be able to write off the deficit against the issued and paid-up capital.

The company is currently valued by the market at around P683 million or P0.31 a share. MG is set to conduct its annual stockholders meeting on Nov. 27.

It was earlier reported that MG was taking in a new investor and acquiring a Cebu-based seafood exporter. In October last year, it entered into an investment agreement with Chen Chih-Hsing, a Chinese national who is the president of U Hung Trading Co. Ltd., which is, in turn, engaged in seafood importation and processing. This new investor agreed to infuse P15 million into the company payable in three years and convertible into equity at the option of the investor.

The board of MG also approved the acquisition of Cebu Canning Corp. (C3) through a combined acquisition of primary and secondary shares, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

C3, a domestic firm incorporated in 2008, is a family-owned and operated seafood company located at Tresco Compound, Casuntingan, Mandaue, Cebu City. It is primarily engaged in the business of processing pasteurized canned crabmeat. It exports to the United States.

MG, incorporated in 1964, was previously into the IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors. Its former subsidiaries included IP Converge Data Center Inc. and IP E-Game Ventures Inc. In 2011, shareholders of MG approved a new corporate restructuring plan and sold all assets and liabilities to a new private company, IP Ventures Inc. (IPVI), thus spinning off the IT businesses to a privately held company owned by the same shareholders.

In 2013, the company acquired a 51 percent controlling interest in Millennium Ocean Star Corp. (MOSC), which is majority-owned by the company’s chair and president Yang Chi Jen.