The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the planned follow-on offering of Davao tycoon Dennis A. Uy’s DITO CME Holdings Corporation of shares worth up to P4.2 billion.
In its meeting on August 15, the Commission En Banc resolved to render effective DITO’s registration statement covering a total of 1.95 billion common shares priced at P1.00 to P2.15 per share, subject to the company’s compliance with certain remaining requirements.
At the maximum price, DITO expects to net up to P4.12 billion from the offer. The listed telco provider will use the proceeds to fund the commercial rollout of its network expansion and for general corporate purposes.
The offer is slated to run from Sept. 5 to Sept. 12, 2024, in time for listing of the shares on the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on September 20, 2024, according to the latest timeline submitted by the company.
DITO CME, the parent company of telecommunications for DITO Telecommunity Corporation, has tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corporation as the sole underwriter for the transaction.
Last September, DITO Telecommunity Corporation secured a $3.9 billion 15-year long-term project finance facility, one of the largest long-term debt arranged and syndicated by a group of multinational banks for a Philippine corporation.
The proceeds were used to extinguish short-term bridge loan facilities totaling $1.3 billion with the balance to pay contractors and fund the continuing network rollout of DITO Tel.
The firm said this will further improve the quality of access and user experience as well as accelerating the take up of its FWA 5G and mobile postpaid product offerings.
In combination with the recent equity investments at the DITO CME level, the firm said this long-term debt provides DITO Tel with more confidence in achieving its business plan targets at the soonest possible time.
In total, the DITO group of companies had raised about P4.44 billion from the sale of substantial amounts of its shares of stock.
DITO CME said its subsidiary DITO Holdings Corporation, had issued 2.24 shares to Summit Global Ltd., an entity organized and existing under the laws of the Cayman Islands, at a consideration of P1.00 per share.
The issuance of new shares at DITO Holdings amounts to approximately 18.5 percent of its issued and outstanding capital stock. After such issuance, DITO CME said it shall own 72.91 percent of DITO Holdings.
This comes after DITO CME sold shares equivalent to 13.55 percent of its outstanding capital worth P2.2 billion to two firms that have been recently registered in Singapore.
DITO CME said the buyer of P610 million worth of its shares is “unrelated third-party subscriber Xterra Ventures Pte. Ltd. at an issue price of P1.00 per share.”
A separate disclosure identified the buyer for P1.59 billion Dito common shares as Summit Telco Corporation Pte. Ltd., an unrelated third party subscriber also at an issue price of P1.00 per share.