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Sale of investments. Ayala Corp. grossed P395.375 million from the sale of 145,000 shares in
Globe Telecom Inc. at P1,355 each on
February
12, 2007 and another 145,000 at P1,375 each on
February 13, 2007. The sale reduced AC’s holdings in its telecom unit to
45,042,252 shares, or 34.10 percent as of
January
13, 2007 from 45,332,252 shares on September 1, 2006.
Ayala
has been selling some of its holdings in various units.
Sometime last year, it sold 21.216 million shares in
Ayala Land Inc. for P318,605,500 at prices ranging from
P15 to P15.25. The sale reduced AC’s holdings in its
property subsidiary to 58.01 percent as of October 31,
2006 from 58.21 percent the previous month.
From
January to September 2006, AC made P7,024,024,000 from
sale of investments, slightly down from P7,443,436,000
in the same period in 2005.
Equity
update.
As of September 30, 2006, JG Summit Holdings Inc., the
listed holding company of businessman John Gokongwei
Jr., owned 1,314,435,609 shares in Universal Robina
Corp., or 59.16 percent of 2,221,851,481 outstanding
shares. As of the same cutoff date, Express Holdings
Inc., a unit of JG Summit, held 219,904,990 shares or
13.04 percent. The two corporate stockholders combined
for the 72.20 percent as of September 30, 2006.
Gokongwei, the patriarch and URC chairman emeritus, owns
1,875,481,099 shares, or 27.6 percent, of the URC shares
attributed to JG Summit.
What is
significant, though, was the increasing foreign
ownership of URC shares. As of September 30, 2006,
listed under the name of PCD Nominee Corp. were
831,000,506 shares, or 37.04 percent, all classified as
foreign-owned. Of these, HSBC held 491,654,203 shares,
or 22.13 percent while Standard Chartered Bank held
208,460,477 shares, or 9.38 percent. By December 29,
2006, the HSBC’s holdings increased to 512,109,738
shares, or 23.05 percent while those of Standard
Chartered Bank dropped to 204,172,080 shares, or 9.19
percent.
As of
January 31, 2006, PCD Nominee held 152,442,941 shares,
or 9.04 percent of which HSBC was listed as record owner
of 132,237,425 shares, or 7.84 percent. No shares were
listed under Standard Chartered Bank.
Executive compensation.
As chairman emeritus, Gokongwei, leads the cast of five
highest paid executives of Universal Robina, who will
receive this year P29,002,283, up 9.155 percent from
P26,569,801 in 2006, which, in turn, was slightly higher
than estimate of P26,421,551 URC disclosed in a filing
dated March 28, 2006. This year’s pay will consist of
salary, P28,612,283; bonus, P300,000; and other perks,
P90,000. Aside from Gokongwei, URC’s other highest paid
officers this year are James L. Go, director, chairman
and chief executive officer; Lance Y. Gokongwei,
director, president and chief operating officer;
Bienvenido S. Bautista and Patrick O. Ong, executive
vice presidents.
Surprise!
Balabac
Resources and Holdings Corp. soared 49.39 percent on
Monday to close at P2.48, its 30-day high, from P1.66 on
February 16. On Tuesday, it hit a high of P3, its
opening price, before closing unchanged at P2.48. What’s
happening? This is now regulators’ call. Will the
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine
Stock Exchange (PSE) ask the company’s officers the
reason for the stock’s sudden surge?
PSE
sought the company for an explanation and was told by
lawyer Ma. Cecilia L. Pesayco, corporate secretary, that
none of the company’s directors and officers “are aware
of any information which may affect the value and
trading of the Corporation’s securities.” But she hinted
that something is in the offing when she also wrote PSE
that “we are unable to disclose matters to be taken up”
in a meeting of the board of directors on February 21
referring to the matters as “soft information until the
requisite board approval is obtained.” These
“undisclosed matters” must be the reason for Balabac’s
rise. What could these be? |
