Blaming market conditions, DITO CME Holdings Corporation has formally informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that it is deferring its P8 billion stock rights offering but the bourse said it has yet to approve the deferment.
“The Exchange was notified by DITO CME Holdings Corp. that its "management has determined that current market conditions are less than ideal to pursue the offering" and that "upon careful consideration of its business strategies, DITO CME has decided to defer the Stock Rights Offer,’” said the PSE quoting the DITO letter.
“In the same letter,DITO said that ‘ shall refund any and all subscription payments made by any existing shareholder or qualified institutional buyer during the offer period of the Stock Rights Offer,’” PSE added.
However, the PSE noted that this announcement “should not be construed as an approval by the Exchange of the deferment of the offering." PSE further said "This is without prejudice to any regulatory action that the exchange may pursue in order to ensure full compliance with the applicable rules and for the protection of the investing public consistent with the mandate of the exchange, as a self-regulatory organization, to maintain a fair and orderly market.”
PSE is expected to at on the DITO decision before trading starts on Monday, Jan. 31.
The PSE stressed that, “The posting of this notice is strictly for dissemination purposes only. The company, its underwriter, and other advisers are responsible for strict compliance with the rules of the exchange.” China Bank Capital Corp. is the underwriter for DTIO's stock rights offering.
“The Exchange disclaims any liability arising from, or in connection with, the foregoing matter,” it added.
DITO has recently received regulatory approval to extend its stock rights offer through Feb. 2, from the original Jan. 18 deadline, allegedly to “allow more qualified investors to obtain additional shares at an attractive discount.”
The company had claimed that, “the extension was granted due to numerous requests from shareholders who were unable to subscribe to the offering nor receive their SRO kits on time due to logistical difficulties brought about by the surge of COVID-19.”
DITO CME is offering a total of 1.64 billion common shares, priced at P4.88 per share. The offer price is an 18.4 percent discount from the closing price as of Jan. 13, 2022 and was set at the bottom of its indicative price range.
DCME President Eric R. Alberto said earlier that, “We're raising P8 billion via the SRO, and proceeds will be used to fund our telco services all over the country in fulfillment of the technical audit, and to fulfill our own mission to be a compelling and a competitive alternative telco in service of the Filipino public.”
DITO CME owns 54 percent of DITO Telecommunity and operates three digital companies in media, communications, entertainment, and information technology.
These include Unalytics, which provides managed analytics services; Acuity Global, which curates media properties across platforms and provides media planning and buying; and Luna Academy, an online education platform aimed at equipping users with future-ready skills, credentials, and certificates.