IRC plans to raise P441.9M from share sale

Real estate firm IRC Properties Inc. plans to raise P441.92 million from the sale of new shares.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, IRC said its board had approved the issuance of 200 million common shares to Sigma Epsilon Fund Ltd. (Sigma Epsilon) at P1.40 a share or a total block price of P280 million.

Another batch of 172.8 million IRC shares will be issued through a private placement to an investor or group of investors deemed acceptable by management, the disclosure said.  The subscription price will likewise be at P1.40 a share.

The subscription price marks a 12-percent premium over IRC’s closing price of P1.25 a share on Friday.  The company has a market capitalization of P1.41 billion to date.

The common shares to be issued by the company will be taken out of the unissued portion of the company’s authorized capital stock.

The shares have a par value of P1 each.

IRC, formerly Interport Resources Corp., was incorporated in 1975 primarily to engage in the acquisition, reclamation, development or exploration of land, forests, minerals, oil, gas and other resources.  It initially ventured in oil exploration activities and drilled two wells in Southern Mindoro and the Sulu Sea areas, but the global recession in the late 1970s forced IRC to cut down on exploration activities.  Doris Dumlao-Abadilla