Ayala unit to redeem 1.3B shares

AYALA-LED electronics manufacturing services firm Integrated Micro-Electronics (IMI) is set to redeem 1.3 billion worth of unlisted preferred shares at a par value of P1 each.

By retiring the preferred shares, IMI will be left with only common shares, thus simplifying its shareholder structure.

The redemption price and all accumulated cash dividends, if any, would be paid on Aug. 24 this year to stockholders on record as of July 24, IMI said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange last Friday.

IMI chief finance officer Jerome Tan said the preferred equity was raised by the company in 2008 following the global financial crisis with strong support provided by the existing shareholders at that time. The company, he said, was now in a strong financial position to redeem those shares.

“Moreover, the current market environment is attractive to secure favorable long-term financing. The funding of the redemption of the preferred shares will come from a combination of long-term debt and internally generated funds,” Tan said.

IMI’s preferred shares carry certain features, rights and privileges, which include quarterly dividends of 2.9 percent a year. The payment of dividends is cumulative. They do not carry voting rights and are not convertible to common shares.

The preferred shares enjoy preference over holders of common stock in the distribution of corporate assets in the event of dissolution and liquidation and in the payment of the dividend at the rate specified. The share have no preemptive rights and are redeemable at the option of the issuer.

Meanwhile, IMI also announced that for the sixth consecutive year, it had been awarded by German multinational engineering and electronics company Robert Bosch GmbH—a leading supplier of technology and devices in the areas of automotive, industrial and consumer electronics—the status of “preferred” supplier in the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) category in recognition of its “superior competence and performance.”

“For more than a decade now, our partnership with Bosch has been a growing collaborative relationship. And we shall continue to partner with them, offering solutions that leverage our global footprint and diverse technical and management resources,” IMI president Arthur Tan said.

The industrial arm of conglomerate Ayala Corp., IMI has manufacturing facilities in Asia, Europe and North America serving diversified markets that include those in the automotive, industrial, medical, telecommunications infrastructure, storage device and consumer electronics industries. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla