IMI rules out option to delist from PSE

Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. plans to comply with the stock exchange requirement to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) and has ruled out the possibility of delisting.

IMI has paid to the Philippine Stock Exchange corresponding penalties for failure to comply with the IPO requirement within a year from its listing by way of introduction, based on a memorandum issued by the local bourse.

IMI listed by way of introduction, or without an IPO, in early 2010.

“Delisting is out of the question. It’s not that we don’t want to comply. We want to do it but we want to time it right,” IMI chief finance officer Jerome Tan said in a phone interview.

“We don’t want to go to the market while the conditions are sluggish,” he added.

Tan said the PSE was receptive to IMI’s petition to defer its IPO.

Under the rules on post-listing requirement, the PSE may grant additional time or deny such application as it deems appropriate.

Failure to comply means the local bourse may suspend the trading of shares, double the annual listing maintenance fees or eventually require the issuer to buy back its securities and delist from the PSE.

Meanwhile, IMI reported a 33 percent year-on-year decline in first-semester net profit to $2.1 million, primarily due to lower capacity utilization in its China facilities.

A leading worldwide provider of electronics manufacturing services and power semiconductor assembly and test services, IMI’s revenues for the first six months grew by 8 percent year-on-year to $350.5 million. This was attributed by the company to strong business expansion in Europe, Mexico and the Philippines. Doris C. Dumlao