MANILA, Philippines—Manila-based shipping firm Keppel Philippines Marine Inc. (KPMI) has decided to delist its shares on the local bourse, its Singaporean parent company said on Tuesday.
The thinly traded firm said it had no intention to raise cash through a share sale in the near future, adding that it saw no reason to stay as a publicly listed company.
Only 4.17 percent of the company’s shares are held by minority shareholders, below the 10-percent public-float required by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
“KPMI will be filing a petition for delisting with the PSE in due course” the company’s corporate information officer Agnes Barbara Lorenzo said in a disclosure.
“In this connection, KPMI has received… a letter from Mr. Nelson Yeo Chien Sheng, Director of KS Investments Pte. Ltd. (KSI)… of its intention to make a tender offer to the stockholders of KPMI holding the remaining 83.7 million minority shares which comprise 4.17 percent of KPMI’s outstanding capital stock,” she added.
KSI, which owns the rest of the local firms’ equity, will buy KPMI shares held by minority investors at P3 each, which was the same price the company’s stock closed on Tuesday.
“KPMI does not foresee capital-raising activities by offering shares to the public in the near future,” the company said.
The tender offer period will be from August 1 to September 9, 2011.
Last January, the PSE issued an order to all listed firms to comply with existing rules that require public companies to have at least 10 percent of their shares held by public investors.
Several firms have signified their intention to comply with this rule, including San Miguel Corp., and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.
KPMI posted a 71-percent drop in earnings in the first quarter of the year to P52.93 million due to lower demand for the company’s ship-repair services. This makes up about 87 percent of the company’s total revenue.
The company said it has been expecting the succeeding quarters of the year to be better, saying there were several inquiries for possible clients that the firm has been “closely monitoring and endeavoring to secure.”