Philippine Stock Exchange officially orders Calata delisting

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Tuesday, November 7, officially ordered the delisting of embattled agribusiness Calata Corporation from its official registry for multiple violations of disclosure rules.

The PSE also ordered Calata to conduct a tender offer to minority shareholders of the company.

“Please be informed that, following the conclusion of the involuntary delisting involving the company, the exchange issued a decision dated November 3 ordering the delisting of the company’s shares from the official registry of the exchange and imposition of the concomitant penalties under the exchange’s delisting rules,” PSE president Ramon Monzon said in a memorandum.

But the actual delisting date has yet to be set, pending the tender offer to Calata’s minority shareholders.

The PSE said the tender offer would give the minority shareholders an exit mechanism before the company is officially delisted. (READ: PSE offers Calata voluntary delisting instead of selling out)

Trading of Calata shares, however, will remain suspended.

“The exchange will notify the investing public of further development of the said tender offer and shall issue a separate announcement on the effective date of the delisting,” the PSE said.

Calata’s public float currently stands at 61.53%, with minority shareholders owning 350.934 million shares in the company.

Shares of Calata were last traded on June 30, closing at P2.04 per share. (READ: Millennium Global backs out from buying into embattled Calata)

Based on the stock’s last closing price, Calata would need to raise P716 million if all minority shareholders would tender their shares.

Calata president Joseph Calata earlier said the company would not be capable of conducting a tender offer because of lack of sufficient retained earnings to fund the buyback of shares.

As of end-2016, the company only has around P400 million in retained earnings.

Calata said a tender offer would “kill the company.”

Calata last week announced that he plans to take the company to a cryptocurrency exchange once it is delisted from the PSE.

Calata said he has been talking to 3 cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe to list what he calls “Calcoins” within the next two months.

It was on July 24 when the PSE initiated delisting procedures against the company for committing 55 disclosure violations. – Rappler.com