Phinma raising stake in education, hotels via P2.8-B deal

MANILA  -The Del Rosario family’s listed conglomerate Phinma Corp. is increasing its exposure in its core education, property and hotel businesses via a P2.8-billion share and asset purchase that comes amid the broader recovery of business prospects during the post pandemic period.

Phinma’s board approved the acquisition of parent firm Phinma Inc.’s shares in Phinma Education Holdings, Phinma Property Holdings, Phinma Hospitality, Phinma Microtel Hotels, and ABCIC Property Holdings for P2.35 billion, a stock exchange filing on Friday showed.

The board also approved the P507-million acquisition of the parent firm’s offices in Phinma Plaza, Rockwell Center in Makati City.

“The transaction is part of the consolidation of the group’s strategic business units under Phinma Corp. and will expand Phinma Corp.’s exposure to these high-growth sectors,” the company said in the filing.

The largest by value was its acquisition of the parent firm’s 8.03-percent stake in Phinma Education, whose schools serve about 124,500 students, for P1.1 billion.

This will raise Phinma’s stake in the education arm to about 75 percent.

It is also paying roughly P1 billion to acquire stakes in Phinma Property Holdings and ABCIC Property Holdings, raising its stake in the two companies to 86.26 percent and 89.99 percent, respectively.

Shares in Phinma Hospitality Inc. and Phinma Microtel Hotels will be acquired for about P272 million. The conglomerate will own 63.77 percent and 51 percent of these firms, respectively.

Phinma Hospitality operates 14 Microtel by Wyndham Hotels and one TRYP Wyndham Hotel, its latest annual report showed.

It said in a separate filing that income during the first quarter of 2023 ended flat at P484.56 million while revenues expanded by 6 percent to P4.78 billion.

“The strong topline growth we saw in the full year of 2022 has continued in the first three months of this year,” Phinma president and chief operating officer Meliton Salazar Jr. said in a separate statement.

“We had to address the headwinds but we were also able to ride the tailwinds in our industries,” he added.

Phinma Education posted total revenues of P1.49 billion, up 48 percent, from January to March this year.

Total enrolments during the second semester of the current school year jumped 30 percent.

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