ICTSI gets P1.7B from share sale

International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is selling treasury shares accumulated during the financial crisis in 2009 to raise fresh capital that can bankroll the group’s aggressive expansion locally and overseas.

In a disclosure Friday, the listed company said it approved the sale of about 31.24 million common shares held by subsidiary ICTSI Warehousing Inc. to an institutional investor for P55.45 each.

The shares worth P1.7 billion were crossed on the same day it was announced. ICTSI said it expected to be paid by early next week. The company declined to disclose the identity of the buyer.

While the price at which the shares were sold seemed like a discount over ICTSI’s P58.30 close on Thursday, it was still a significant premium over the stock’s one-year low of P31 each.

“The proceeds of the sale will be used by the ICTSI group to fund its ongoing capital expenditure program and for general corporate purposes,” the company told the local bourse. “We are just monetizing our treasury shares,” said ICTSI treasurer Rafael Consing.

CLSA Ltd. acted as the transaction’s sole bookrunner and sale placing agent.

ICTSI is one of the world’s biggest port operators, with 23 different projects in 17 countries around the world. Last year, the company posted a net profit of $98.3 million, up 79 percent year-on-year due to the recovery in global trade coupled with the increase in revenues from new projects.

In 2011, ICTSI plans to nearly triple its capital spending to $356 million from $125 million in 2010, skewed mainly for the development of new facilities in Latin America.

In the Philippines, ICTSI operates the Manila International Container Terminal, the Bauan Terminal in Batangas, Makar Wharf in General Santos, Sasa Wharf in Davao, the New Container Terminal (NCT) 1 in Subic and the Mindanao Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental. Paolo G. Montecillo