Splash to delist; OKs tender offer

Personal care product and food producer Splash Corp. is set to go back to private hands after operating as a public company in the last nine years, citing sluggish trading volume at the stock market along with the desire to keep its strategic plans internal.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday, Splash announced an offer to buy out minority shareholders at P3.10 a share, initiating a voluntary delisting process from the local bourse.

The delisting took into account “the low trading volume of Splash shares over the last 24 months, the response of the investing public to the ongoing share buy-back program and the company’s desire to avoid telegraphing its business plans to its competitors,” the disclosure said.

The voluntary delisting process was unanimously approved by the board of the company.

At present, the investing public owns 26.66 percent or 158.45 million shares of Splash, which listed on the PSE in 2007.

The tender offer price represents a 20-percent premium over the P2.58-a-share closing price of Splash on Friday. The offer was also priced close to the company’s 52-week high of P3.17 a share at the stock exchange.

The controlling shareholder is thus expected to shell out about P491.19 million to conduct the tender offer.

The tender offer is mandatory for companies wishing to delist voluntarily from the stock exchange, giving minority shareholders the chance to exit before the company reverts to private hands. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla