DITO CME Holdings Inc. will sell its common shares at a discounted price of P1.05 each during its follow-on offering set for this week.
The price is 41 percent lower than its stock market closing yesterday, Nov. 18, at P1.79. It is also at the lower end of its previous pricing range of P1 to P2.15 per share.
The company hopes to raise a total of P2.05 billion from the sale, which involves 1.95 billion common shares.
The offer period is scheduled on Nov. 20 to Nov. 26. The shares will be listed on Dec. 6.
The follow-on offering was originally scheduled to run from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, but investors asked for “additional time to further evaluate this investment opportunity,” DITO had said.
The fundraising activity was in line with its expansion plans as it targets to grow its subscriber base from 13 million to 16 million by the end of the year.
The third telco player is also working on increasing its population coverage beyond the current 86.30 percent.
DITO CME was also supposed to complete an P8-billion stock rights offering in 2022 but decided to drop it due to weak demand from large investors. The company refunded investors of their subscription payments.
No more cancellation
DITO CME president and chief operating officer Donald Lim previously assured that no cancellation would happen this time around, expressing optimism about the trajectory of the stock market and the economy as a whole.
This month, DITO announced that Singaporean firm Summit Telco Corp. Pte. Ltd. is set to buy additional 9 billion common shares in the parent company.
The share subscription is part of DITO’s plan of securing up to P40.26 billion in fresh funding via private placements in the next five years or until the end of 2028. The company last year received P5.5 billion from selling common shares to Singapore-based third-party investors.
The company earmarked P27 billion in capital expenditures for this year to reach geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas where there is a lack of internet connectivity.—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad