PAL eyes 5-day trading halt

Flag carrier operator PAL Holdings Inc. has sought a five-day trading suspension at the Philippine Stock Exchange starting Wednesday pending disclosures on charter amendments approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its capital restructuring.

The equity restructuring is aimed at cleaning up PAL Holdings’ balance sheet and pave the way for the entry of an investor group.

The requested voluntary trading suspension was set for Jan. 3 to 9 as the SEC issued certificates approving the following:

•a reduction in the authorized capital stock by changing the par value of shares from P0.45 to P1 per share.

•a decrease in capital stock from P30 billion divided into 30 billion shares with the par value of P1 each to P13.5 billion divided into 30 billion shares with the par value of P0.45 each.

•the valuation of P8.24 billion shares of stock will be applied as full payment for the additional issuance of around 1.65 billion common shares with a par value of P1 each with applied paid-in capital of P6.59 billion.

PAL Holdings has likewise obtained approval for the valuation of a proposed share-swap transaction with Zuma Holdings and Management Corp., wherein the former will issue 19 shares for every Zuma share surrendered.

Zuma owns 99.97 percent of Air Philippines Corp., an afffiliate that operates a portion of Philippine Airlines’ flights.

As a result, PAL Holdings will issue a total of 1.65 billion shares from its authorized but unissued capital in favor of other affiliates Cosmic Holdings Corp. and Horizon Global Investments Ltd. which respectively own 60 percent and 40 percent of Zuma.

To recall, the group of tycoon Lucio Tan has been consolidating the operations of Philippine Airlines under listed PAL Holdings Inc. as part of a streamlining program envisioned to upgrade the airline into a five-star carrier.

PAL, which is currently rated as a 3-star airline by airline and airport rating firm Skytrax, aims to obtain the highest rating of 5-star in four years.

The certified 5-star airline rating is the highest category quality ranking used by Skytrax to certify airline product and service standards. This status has so far been awarded to only nine airlines: Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Asiana Airlines, Hainan Airlines, ANA All Nippon Airways, Garuda Indonesia, EVA Air and Etihad Airways. This rating recognizes the highest standards of airport and onboard product provided by an airline to customers, together with consistent and high standards of front-line staff service across the airport and onboard service environment.