MANILA, Philippines--Philippine Racing Club Inc., the country?s largest horse racing operator, is selling its 69-percent stake in publicly listed, but dormant, holding firm JTH Davies Holdings Inc. (JTH) to help reduce its debt.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday, PRC said its board had approved a plan to sell its 210.64 million shares in JTH Davies for at least 73 centavos a share.

This suggested that PRC can raise about P153.7 million from the sale. The floor price, however, is at a significant discount to JTH Davies? market price, which ranged from P1.22 and P2.50 in the last 30 days.

The disclosure said part of the proceeds would be used to ?partially pay off the company?s loans.?

As of end-June this year, PRC has about P292 million in total current liabilities, of which P82 million represented interest-bearing loans and borrowings.

PRC operates a horse racing club and manages betting stations in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

It holds a 25-year Congressional franchise effective until October 2022.

Until December 2008, the company held its race operations in Santa Ana Park in Makati City but officially transferred its racetrack and race operations in Cavite beginning Jan. 6 this year.

JTH Davies, meanwhile, which has a market capitalization of about P497 million, has very limited operations and has no suppliers or customers.

It has other inactive subsidiaries, Jardine Oil Corp. and Diesel Injection Magneto Services Inc., which are all in the process of being dissolved.

The company was originally incorporated in 1946 as Theo H. Davies & Co., Far East Ltd., a Philippine branch office of Theo H. Davies & Co. Ltd., a Hawaiian corporation.

In 1973, James Matheson & Co. of Hong Kong acquired the Hawaiian parent and changed the name of the Philippine branch office to Jardine Davies Inc. in 1974.

As Jardine Davies, the company used to engage in a range of activities such as the distribution of agri-chemical products and construction supplies, and middle-income housing, through former wholly-owned units, subsidiaries and affiliates. The company was transformed into a holding firm in 2004. PRC acquired 95.55 percent of the holding firm in 2006.