National Book Store gears up for backdoor listing

MANILA, Philippines – National Book Store Inc. (NBS), the country’s largest bookseller, is taking over publicly traded Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp., paving the way for its backdoor listing.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, April 18, Vulcan said its board approved the subscription of NBS to P3.4 billion worth of its shares.

NBS will buy P3.04 billion worth of Vulcan shares, and its P363.9 million advances to the firm will be converted into equity.

To accommodate NBS’ subscription, Vulcan will raise its authorized capital stock to P4 billion from P600 million.

Vulcan, which holds mining exploration rights in various parts of the country, is also changing its core business.

Vulcan’s board approved the change in the company’s primary purpose from mining into retailing, in line with NBS’ entry. Mining and oil exploration will just be secondary, along with wholesale, publishing, printing, manufacturing and distributing, among others.

The company will be renamed National Book Store Retail Corp.

NBS started as a small shop in Escolta before the Japanese occupation, selling novels and textbooks. Today, it has over 145 branches nationwide.

It is owned by the Ramos family, which also has interest in copper producer Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp., and Anglo Philippine Holdings.

Alfredo Ramos, son of NBS founder Socorro Ramos, ranked No. 30 in Forbes Magazine’s 2012 Philippines’ 40 richest list. He and family had a net worth of $250 million as of June 2012. – Rappler.com