Market regulators are probing Abra Mining and Industrial Corporation (AR) for trading unissued and unlisted shares.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), and Philippine Depository and Trust Corporation (PDTC) have teamed up to “pursue the necessary actions to protect investors.”

In a parallel preliminary fact-finding investigation, the SEC found that AR had 258.96 billion shares lodged with PDTC as of February 16. The figure exceeds the 72.9 billion shares the company listed with the PSE by over 186 billion.

In its 2019 financial statement, AR reported issued and outstanding capital stock comprising 99.29 billion shares.

The discrepancies are violations of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines or Republic Act No. 11232.

Trading of AR shares was suspended last Thursday, March 4, as regulators conduct a probe.

AR shares were quite dormant in recent years and were among the cheapest in the exchange, trading around P0.0008 to P0.001 apiece in 2020.

But in December 2020, AR’s stock price started to pick up, soaring by 337% to P0.0035 from the usual price.

Last January 21, the stock price touched P0.013. This is a 1,525% increase from its usual price in recent years.

“The SEC, in coordination with the PSE and PDTC, will continue investigating the issue not only to resolve the current incident but also to find system-wide measures to prevent its recurrence,” the regulators said.

“In the meantime, AR was ordered to submit its proposed actions to address the discrepancies in its issued, outstanding, listed, and lodged shares.” – Rappler.com