Keppel halts trading as stockholders approve voluntary delisting

Stockholders of Keppel Philippines Holdings Inc. approved the company’s voluntary delisting. | PHOTO: keppelph.com

MANILA, Philippines — Keppel Philippines Holdings Inc. (KPH) filed for a voluntary trading suspension effective at 9:30 a.m. on Monday after announcing that its stockholders had approved its voluntary delisting.

The company said in a stock exchange disclosure that “no votes were cast by any shareholder against the voluntary delisting” during its annual meeting on April 24. The trading suspension was filed to allow shareholders to absorb the news.

This comes two months after KPH’s board of directors approved the filing of an application to exit the local bourse.

Kepwealth Inc., which owns 89.86 percent of KPH, had wanted to buy out the listed firm’s minority shareholders via a tender offer at P27.40 per share. This is an 8.3-percent premium over KPH’s last closing price of P25.30.

Under the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc.’s voluntary delisting rules, Kepwealth needs to obtain at least 95 percent of KPH’s shares before the latter can exit the bourse.

KPH, which listed on the PSE in 1987, was incorporated as a subsidiary of Singapore-based Keppel Corp. Ltd. under the name Keppel Philippines Shipyard Inc. to handle ship repair and conduct shipbuilding activities.

It was later converted into an investment holding company that also has real estate interests.
Analysts earlier said KPH was “very thinly traded, so maybe the parent company feels that it isn’t being valued correctly by the market.”