Keppel Philippines prepares to depart from PSE

MANILA, Philippines—Listed shipping firm Keppel Philippines Marine Inc. is preparing for its departure from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), in line with moves by its Singaporean parent firm to consolidate assets under one entity.

In a disclosure, Keppel Philippines on Wednesday said it recently completed its tender offer to buy out minority shareholders that still owned stock in the company.

The company said its parent firm KS Investments Ltd., a company registered in Singapore, successfully acquired a total of 36.84 million shares in Keppel Philippines for P3 each during the tender offer period that ended last September 9.

“The sellers were various shareholders who tendered their shares during the tender offer period starting August 1,” the company told the local bourse.

The tender offer hiked KS Investments stake in Keppel Philippines to 98 percent, from about 95 percent previously. The company said it would still allow remaining minority shareholders to sell their holdings back to KS Investments.

“We would like to remind all shareholders and the investing public that Keppel Philippines has a pending petition to delist the shares to take effect on October 28,” the company said.

Keppel Philippines’ delisting stems from the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) recent requirement on all listed firms to have at least 10 percent of its capital stock in the hands of minority investors.

The thinly traded firm said it had no intention to raise cash through a share sale in the near future, adding that it saw no reason to stay as a publicly listed company. Only 4.17 percent of the company’s shares were held by minority shareholders.

Singapore’s Keppel group has also signified its intention to consolidate all of its shipping investments under KS Investments. Keppel Philippines posted a 71-percent drop in earnings in the first quarter of the year to P52.93 million due to lower demand for the company’s ship-repair services. This makes up about 87 percent of the company’s total revenue.

Several other locally listed firms have signified their intention to comply with the PSE’s requirements, including San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.