Shares up on telco gains, buck regional downtrend

MANILA - Share prices traded higher on Wednesday, boosted by gains in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom, after the two companies purchased San Miguel Corp.'s telecommunications business.


The Philippine Stock Exchange index was up 1.26 percent at P7,495.09 in late trading. Tokyo and Hong Kong stocks fell.

PLDT was up 2 percent to P1,938 while Globe was 1.66 percent higher to P2,450. San Miguel was down 2.44 percent to P80.

The P70-billion deal, wherein rivals PLDT and Globe each bought a 50-percent stake in San Miguel's telecommunications assets, effectively ended the conglomerate's bid to crack the market duopoly.

"At the end of the day, the third player didn't really materialize. What you have is still PLDT and Globe and they still have to fight for market share, and the expectation there is still on and that has an impact on their margins," BPI Securities analyst Jomar Lacson said.

San Miguel "can now redeploy capital towards more profitable investments," he said.

Lacson said he saw two to three more weeks of volatility, in the run-up to the Federal Reserve meeting by end-June, where it may, or may not raise interest rates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

SMC's controlling stockholder to list by way of introduction

MANILA, Philippines - Top Frontier, the controlling shareholder of diversifying San Miguel Corp., is set to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange by way of introduction.

"The board of directors of Top Frontier Investment Holdings during its meeting held this afternoon approved the filing of an application with the Exchange for the listing by way of introduction of all the common shares of Top Frontier, inclusive of the common shares of Top Frontier declared as property dividends," San Miguel told the stock exchange.

This after San Miguel declared as property dividends 240.19 million shares of Top Frontier. The conglomerate offered one common share of Top Frontier for every 10 shares of San Miguel. The ex-date is October 30, and record date is November 5. Payment date has yet to be announced.

San Miguel said the fair value of a dividend share is P178, based on the valuation report by Punongbayan and Araullo. This means the 240.19 million shares are worth P42.75 billion.

Introductory listing does not involve an initial public offering (IPO), although a company has the option to sell shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com