AEV sells $100M treasury shares

POWER-based conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) has sold $100 million worth of treasury shares, taking advantage of lofty prices to raise fresh funds for expansion.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, AEV said its board had agreed to sell 63.33 million AEV common shares held in treasury.

The conglomerate mandated UBS AG Hong Kong to act as the placement agent for the sale of these shares via private placement.

The shares were sold in an overnight placement at a deal price of P74.25 per share, allowing AEV to raise a total of around P4.7 billion.

“The proceeds of the sale will be used for general corporate purposes and to fund future investments of AEV,” the company’s disclosure said.

The sale of 63.3 million treasury shares will expand AEV’s outstanding shares by 1.1 percent.

AEV grew its first semester net profit by 34 percent year-on-year to P10.5 billion on the back of higher earnings contribution from its power and banking businesses. The power business accounted for 67.1 percent of earnings, followed by banking which had a share of 16.8 percent. Food, infrastructure and real estate businesses accounted for 7.8 percent, 7.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

While growing its existing businesses, AEV is diversifying income streams from its fifth leg—the infrastructure-related businesses under Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc.