Keppel Philippines to exit local bourse on July 8

INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines – The local bourse will see its first exit of the year on July 8 after the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) approved the delisting of Keppel Philippines Holdings Inc. (KPH).

In a memorandum on Tuesday, PSE said it had ordered the delisting of KPH’s shares from the official registry of the exchange.

This comes after Kepwealth Inc., the controlling shareholder, launched a tender offer to buy out the minority stockholders of KPH.

READ: Keppel halts trading as stockholders approve voluntary delisting

This involved 5.42 million shares bought at P27.40 each, valuing KPH’s exit at P149 million. The tender offer price is a 6-premium over its last closing price of P25.85 on May 19, or before the tender offer period.

As a result, Kepwealth now owns 99.34 percent of KPH shares from 89.86 percent previously.

This allows KPH to officially leave the PSE roster, since the public no longer holds a minimum 10 percent of its shares.

KPH, which listed on the PSE in 1987, was incorporated as a subsidiary of Singapore-based Keppel Corporation Ltd. It operated 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 pointed out that KPH’s move to file for voluntary delisting was a way to increase its value, seeing that it was “very thinly traded.”

Its exit comes amid a volatile environment for investors, due mostly to the ongoing trade war and geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.

Involuntary delisting

Biotechnology firm Philab Holdings Corp. is likewise set to leave the local bourse on July 11. Unlike KPH, Philab’s delisting is involuntary.

PSE will delist Philab—whose trading has been suspended since May 2018 after failing to submit its 2017 annual report—for repeatedly failing to submit required documents.

Philab was incorporated in November 2000 as iRipple Inc. and was mainly involved in trading of computer hardware and software products. Its primary purpose was later changed to that of a biotechnology company. INQ