SULTAN Mining & Energy Development Corp. (SMEDC), a coal mining and trading company, is allotting P200 million to fund exploration and development activities this year.

The amount will come from the P480-million targeted gross proceeds of its proposed public offering.

The company has pending applications for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to sell 480 million new common shares with a par value of P1 each to domestic investors.

Despite the weakness of the stock market, the company would still like to pursue the IPO to take advantage of the strong investor appetite for coal stocks.

The shares for sale would be issued from its authorized and unissued capital stock and would be equivalent to 33.5 percent of Sultan Mining’s outstanding capital after the IPO. The firm is currently 78.71-percent owned by Murphy Consolidated Holdings Corp.

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SULTAN Mining & Energy Development Corp. (SMEDC), a coal mining and trading company, is allotting P200 million to fund exploration and development activities this year.

Rice traders aren’t too happy right now with the National Food Authority (NFA). You see, NFA is mandated to buy palay at P12 a kilo but, as of last Wednesday, it was already buying palay at P20.20 in Bulacan. To keep their supplies open, this means traders have had to match or exceed NFA’s buying price.