Romeros expanding port business via newly acquired firm

Businessman Reghis Romero II is preparing for the expansion of its port business here and overseas using its newly acquired listed firm.

In a disclosure, the Romero-led MIC Holdings Inc. said its board had approved to change the company’s name to Globalport Terminals Inc. to reflect its new main business.

The change in name was part of the “business plans” of MIC Holdings’ new parent firm, the Romero-owned Sultan 900 Capital Inc., discussed in a special board meeting on August 19, the disclosure read.

Sultan 900 earlier acquired a majority stake in MIC Holdings, which was then owned by businessman Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco Jr.

Cojuangco and Reghis’ son Michael are currently two of the three major Filipino shareholders of Air Asia Philippines, the local unit of Malaysian budget carrier Air Asia Berhad.

Also approved in the meeting last week was an increase in MIC Holdings’ paid-up capital to about 1 million shares. Sultan 900 subscribed to 457,897 shares.

The company said it likewise approved the increase in the number of MIC Holdings’ directors to nine from seven, and an increase in its capital stock to P2.1 billion from the current P100 million. It changed the par value of its shares to P1 from the current P100.

MIC Holdings said it would impose a voluntary trading halt on Monday, August 22, to give the investing public time to digest the information.

Earlier, the younger Romero, who was appointed as MIC Holdings chairman, said the group planned to raise a total of $200 million for the acquisition and development of ports in the Philippines and overseas.

The Romero group, through Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc., owns two major port facilities in Manila’s Tondo district.