PSE delists Calata

Agribusiness firm Calata Corp. will be stricken off the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) roster of listed companies by Dec. 11 this year.

In a memorandum yesterday, PSE president Ramon Monzon noted that Calata—which was facing delisting due to multiple violations of disclosure requirements and trading restrictions—submitted a motion for reconsideration (MR).

“After due consideration and evaluation of the arguments presented in the MR, the exchange resolved to deny the company’s MR for lack of merit,” PSE president Ramon Monzon said.

As such, Monzon affirmed with finality the delisting of Calata’s shares and the imposition of concomitant penalties.

With the involuntary delisting of Calata, its officers and directors were also banned from sitting on the board of any PSE-listed company for five years. Company chair and CEO Joseph Calata has been banned from the boardroom of any listed company indefinitely.

The PSE found out that Calata had committed a total of 29 violations of disclosure rules, having failed to disclose numerous trade transactions over shares held by its director/officer. The exchange also established that Calata committed 26 violations of the “black-out rule” which prohibits a director or principal officer of an issuer from trading securities during the prescribed period during which a material nonpublic information was obtained.