THE board of directors of chemical firm SBS Philippines Corp. has approved the company’s stock-rights offering (SRO), composed of 350 million shares.
“Anesy Holdings Corp., the company’s major shareholder, has indicated its support for the rights issue and will subscribe to any remaining stock-rights shares that will be unsubscribed after the mandatory second round of the stock-rights offer,” the company said.
With its last trading price of P6.05 per share, the company may raise as much as P2.11 billion.
It said the rights issue will be undertaken within a period of 12 months from approval of the shareholders, but it will also have to seek first the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The size and terms of the SRO will be determined and finalized by the board of directors, including the entitlement ratio, offer price, record date and specific uses of the proceeds of the rights issue, it said.
“The rights issue is intended to provide additional core capital to support the growth and strategic initiatives of the company, which will include, among others, its business-diversification plans to engage in property-related investments and businesses. Management is currently evaluating the allocation and specific uses of the proceeds of rights issue, which will be determined and finalized by the board of directors after approval by the shareholders,” it said.
The company said its income reached P1 billion last year, from P159 million in 2015 after it disposed of certain long-term investments in an associate and in property-related assets, which were held for capital growth and completed with a significant one-off gain from the disposal of such investments assets in the amount of P858.7 million. “Our very strong balance sheet and excess cash gives us the ability to create more value. We will continue to take action to make SBS bigger and better,” said Necisto Sytengco, the company’s chairman and founder.
Gross revenues reached P1.97 billion, almost double from the previous year’s P1.04 billion. The revenues came from its core chemical business, investments in an associate and investment properties.