IPVG gets PhilExim guarantee

Holding firm IPVG Corp. has secured a debt guarantee from state-run Philippine Export Import Credit Agency (PhilExim), the listed firm told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

In a disclosure, the company said it had signed a deal for a guarantee cover for as much as P200 million in debt, in favor of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC).

“The board approved the authority to enter into a guarantee agreement with Trade and Investment Development Corp. of the Philippines (Tidcorp), also known as PhilExim, in favor of HSBC,” the company told the local bourse.

In the same disclosure, the company also issued a drawdown notice to investors GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd. and GEM Investment Advisors Inc. to compel them to subscribe to 19 million new shares in IPVG. This was done in a bid to raise money for the corporation.

At IPVG’s current share price of P1.32 each, the shares are worth P25 million. IPVG’s share price was 7.3 percent up in the year’s first trading session.

Company officials declined to give further details on the transactions.

IPVG is currently undergoing a corporate restructuring, which saw its operating units spun off to a privately held affiliate. Affected units include listed companies’ IP E-Games Ventures Inc. and IP Converge Data Center Inc.

In November, IPVG reported a net loss of P304 million in the first nine months of the year and P600.1 million in the third quarter alone.

The losses stemmed from one-time charges that the company incurred in line with the firm’s ongoing restructuring program.

IPVG said it incurred losses when it sold its subsidiaries at their net book value to sister firm IP Ventures Inc.

“These sales were pursuant to the restructuring plan of IPVG and are, thus, nonrecurring in nature,” the company said in a previous disclosure.

Likewise, it said it was forced to write off several non-core assets, in line with the restructuring. These included shares in nonoperational units.