BIZ BUZZ: Holcim’s tender offer conundrum

MANILA  -The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) upheld the trading suspension of Holcim Philippines because the cement maker remains in violation of the 10-percent minimum public ownership (MPO) requirement amid an ongoing tender offer.

This hurts Holcim’s minority investors, who will now face the burdensome process of selling their shares outside the PSE’s facilities.

Can the PSE make an exemption in this case? A frequent comparison brought up was when the PSE lifted the trading suspension of billionaire Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Food and Beverage in 2018 despite the company also breaching the MPO. But the bourse, which was already led by incumbent president Ramon Monzon at the time, only lifted the suspension after San Miguel secured an exemption from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and met other conditions imposed by the exchange. That same BIR rule is now being cited by the PSE when it denied Holcim’s request last week. It’s unclear whether such an exemption will be sought by Holcim since the tender offer to minority stockholders is ongoing and the deadline has been set on Aug. 30. After this, Holcim intends to delist from the PSE. Veteran stockbroker Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities, said the parties actually have a good chance of gaining exemption from the BIR if they can prove to the tax regulator it can earn more revenues and with much less effort.

By transacting outside the PSE’s facilities, small stockholders will be subjected to capital gains and the documentary stamp taxes instead of the usual stock transaction tax. Roxas said capital gains tax, which is based on profit, is probably minimal for long-term stockholders given the significant decline in Holcim’s share price over several years. There is also the issue of the BIR having additional work in processing documents from Holcim’s stockholders when a cross sale on the PSE would be much simpler and faster.

For Roxas, it’s about going the “extra mile” for the small investor. The question is who will step up for them in this situation?

— Miguel R. Camus

Lambino returns to Ayala

Antonio Joselito Lambino II, managing director for strategic communication of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is set to take on a new role as president of Ayala Foundation, the social development arm of the Ayala group of companies.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Lambino as he used to be Ayala Corp.’s head of public policy before joining government in 2018 as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Finance, where he headed communication and was agency spokesperson during the time of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III. Lambino, who is perhaps more known as one of the original members of the 1990s singing group Smokey Mountain mentored by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, is set to join the foundation next month.

Lambino, a product of the Ateneo de Manila University, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, replaces Ruel Maranan, longtime executive of the Ayala group and head of the foundation, who has retired and is now spending more of his more leisure-packed days in Canada.

—Tina Arceo-Dumlao INQ