East Coast Vulcan Corporation (ECVC), formerly Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corporation, reported that it has already raised its public float to above 20 percent to comply with the minimum public ownership requirement of the bourse.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the firm said its public ownership is now at 21.8 percent of its outstanding stock after the sale of 486.06 million shares--equivalent to 7.33 percent of its capital.

The shares were sold by ECVC’s principal shareholders Hilario and Sofia Pagauitan to Techno-Asia Construction and Development Inc. (TACD) under their agreement signed last June.

The deal involved the assignment and transfer by spouses Pagauitan of the 486.06 million ECVC partially paid shares acquired from National Book Store to TACD.

TACD is a non-related third party and is not related to the Pagauitans, ECVC and its directors and officers.

On Sept. 11, 2023, the ECVC Board of Directors accepted payment for the shares by way of assignment to ECVC of various real properties worth at least P457.5 million in satisfaction of the unpaid subscription balance in the amount of P457.5 million due on the 486.06 million partially paid shares.

The parties are currently finalizing the terms of the relevant agreements for the full payment of the unpaid subscription balance by way of assignment of real properties.

The Pagauitans, through East Coast Mineral Resources Company Inc., acquired 85.5 percent of Vulcan in 2021 from the Ramos family which had decided not to backdoor-list its National Book Store chain via Vulcan.

After the acquisition, ECVC increased its authorized capital to P12 billion from P4 billion and issued 518 billion new shares to ECMRC shareholders Hilario and Sofia Pagauitan and their offsprings Isaac G. Pagauitan, Michael G. Pagauitan, and Ma. Hilarnie P. Parada.

Following the approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the capital hike and stock issuance, ECVC’s public float had dropped to 14.47 percent.