Acquisition of chemicals trader LMG set

An investor group has launched a tender offer to acquire the rest of the shares of LMG Chemicals Corp., which is widely believed to be a prospective backdoor-listing vehicle.

Last May, parent firm Chemical Industries of the Philippines (CIP) agreed to sell 65.89 percent of LMG to Ortigas-based holding firm Newmanholdings Inc. The price at which CIP agreed to sell the stake was P379.033 million or around P2.97 per share.

In compliance with tender offer rules, LMG said in a report Monday that Newmanholdings was prepared to acquire the remaining 66.06-million common shares or 34.11 percent of LMG at the same price of P2.97 per share.

The tender offer started on Monday and will run through July 18 this year.

LMG said the bidder had confirmed having sufficient resources, including cash, to satisfy up to P196.26 million in cash outlay required by the tender offer.

Newmanholdings is a holding firm based at the Philippine Stock Exchange Center in Ortigas. Its directors and key executives are: Ian Norman Dato (chair), Jerome Inciong (president), Leo Magbanua (director), Kristine Olegario (director and treasurer), and Mariel Yanogacio (director and corporate secretary).

As of May 2017, LMG had an authorized capital stock of P200 million.

LMG was previously an industrial chemicals manufacturer and distributor. Starting 2009, the company’s operations have shifted to trading.

LMG is now only engaged in the trading of chemical products such as caustic soda, sulfur and other industrial chemicals. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA