PSE okays Alaska Milk delisting

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Stock Exchange has approved the voluntary delisting of Alaska Milk Corp. from its bourse effective Nov. 5 this year.

Ahead of the delisting, trading on AMC’s shares would be suspended starting Monday, October 29, the PSE said in a memorandum circular.

FrieslandCampina Investments Holding Co. Philippines, the company’s controlling stockholders, has completed two rounds of tender offering at P24 per share that gave it ownership of 98.69 percent of the company.

The first tender offer was made earlier this year after FrieslandCampina, a unit of Dutch dairy giant Royal Friesland Campina (RFC), bought out the stake held by the Uytengsu family which built the company.  The second round was made in compliance with the PSE’s requirements on voluntary delisting.

During AMC’s last annual stockholders meeting as a publicly listed company in May, AMC president Wilfred Uytengsu said the capital markets were no longer serving Alaska the way they did 15-17 years ago when the company went public. He said AMC had no need to be listed on the stock exchange because it was enjoying a net capital position and that the company would be telegraphing strategic moves to competitors by disclosing so much information to the PSE.

If the sale of shares is effected outside the trading system of the PSE once AMC is delisted, these will be subject to a capital gains tax of between 5 and 10 percent. On the contrary, trades on shares of listed companies enjoy the preferential tax rate of ½ of 1 percent.

Apart from capital gains taxes on sale of shares – equivalent to 5 percent for transactions up to P100,000 and 10 percent for those in excess of P100,000 – over-the-counter trades on unlisted companies are slapped  a documentary stamp tax of P0.75 for every P200 of the par value of the stock.

It would also be henceforth uncertain for remaining minority shareholders of AMC whether the dividend policy it followed as a public company would remain when it reverts to private hands, as the new controlling shareholders may henceforth choose to reinvest earnings into the business rather than continue declaring generous dividends, Uytengsu said.

Other companies that have begun the process of voluntary delisting from the PSE are First Metro Investment Corp., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and Eton Properties Philippines Inc.