GT Capital selling shares to pay loans

Conglomerate GT Capital Corp. plans to sell as much as P12 billion worth of preferred shares by the third quarter, raising funds to refinance loans contracted for its big expansion into the infrastructure space.

The board of GT Capital approved the offering of 8 million perpetual preferred shares with an oversubscription option of up to 4 million shares at an offer price of P1,000 each, the company disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday.

“Use of proceeds would be to refinance previous acquisition costs paid through bridge financing and also for other general corporate purposes,” said Jose Crisol Jr., GT Capital’s head of investor relations.

GT Capital is set to file the appropriate registration statement and prospectus in the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also plans to file listing application in the PSE.

The issuance of the preferred shares is set for the third quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory approvals, Crisol said.

The Ty family-led GT Capital recently entered into a strategic alliance with Hong Kong-based First Pacific Group. GT Capital signed a deal to acquire a 15.6-percent stake in infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp., making it the second largest shareholder, while First Pacific will retain a 55- percent stake.

First Pacific gained 56 percent control of GT Capital’s power generation unit Global Business Power, the leading power generation firm in the Visayas, for P22.06 billion.

MPIC agreed to sell 3.6 billion new shares to GT Capital at P6.10 per share for a total consideration of P21.96 billion. This will give GT Capital an initial 11.4 percent of the enlarged MPIC stocks. GT Capital will further acquire 1.3 billion MPIC shares from the First Pacific group, boosting its interest to 15.6 percent.

GT Capital is a listed Philippine conglomerate with interests in banking, property development, power generation, automotive assembly, importation, wholesaling, dealership, and financing, and life and non-life insurance. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla