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Robinsons may offer up to 35-percent stake to public

June 28, 2013 9:14 pm [ manilatimes.net ]

The Gokongwei family’s Robinsons Retail Group may sell up to 35-percent stake to the public in line with its initial public offering plan (IPO) within the year.

“We’re probably looking [to sell] up to 35 percent of the company,” Lance Gokongwei, JG Summit president and chief operating officer, said, adding that the IPO may raise up to $800 million, or approximately P34 billion.

He said that the plan is to use the proceeds from the public offering for store expansion and possible acquisition of new chains or brands.

However, Gokongwei didn’t give an exact date when the company will officially list its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“As you know we’ve already undergone our registration with the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] for our IPO but IPO is also dependent on the market. It’s more important that we have a successful IPO, so we will wait for the right time. We have to wait for the market,” he said, citing that the original target is to do the offering some time this year or by the end also of this year.

Gokongwei explained that after the IPO, Robinsons Retail will be a retail holding company focused purely on multiformat retailing that includes department stores, supermarkets, hardware and convenient store.

“IPO is certainly important in the sense that there’s a huge consumer opportunity in the Philippines, especially at the middle-class growth, so right now, access to capital is important to continue to gain market share in this industry and to participate in its consolidation,” Gokongwei further said.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Robinsons Retail Group has been firming up its plan to raise around P40 billion through an IPO, which could be considered one of the largest public share sale conducted by a Philippine company.

International Financing Review (IFR), a publication of Thomson Reuters, earlier reported that the group is targeting to sell as much as 461.9 million shares at a maximum price of P86.64 apiece, to generate up to P40 billion in fresh capital.

Robinsons Retail Group owns and operates 35 department stores and 73 supermarkets nationwide.

According to IFR, the IPO of the group is scheduled in the third quarter of this year, adding that Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS have been tapped to facilitate the offering.
Madelaine B. Miraflor
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Uniwide assails SEC dissolution decision

June 24, 2013 8:43 pm [ manilatimes.net ]
by Madelaine B. Miraflor Reporter

Uniwide Holdings Inc. called on Monday the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission to dissolve the firm and its five other companies as “unfair.”

Uniwide is claiming in a disclosure filed at the Philippine Stock Exchange records earlier presented by the SEC showed that the group has substantially paid its obligations in 2010 and its debt to its creditors significantly reduced.

“As early as December 2012, urgent motions were filed to withdraw from the SEC as Uniwide will negotiate with its creditors and because it believes it is on the road to recover its financial standing,” Jimmy Gow, president of Uniwide Group of Companies, said in the disclosure.

According to him, the motion given by the SEC was not acted upon, and a mandamus case filed with the Court of Appeals where it is still pending resolution.

“It is therefore unfair that the corporation be dissolved and liquidated,” Gow further said.

SEC earlier ordered to dissolve and liquidate Uniwide Holdings and five other companies under the group, namely Uniwide Sales Inc., Naic Resources and Development Corp., Uniwide Sales Realty and Resources Corp., First Paragon Corp. and Uniwide Sales Warehouse Club.

A special hearing panel, which was assigned to assess the group, found that petitioners were insolvent since 2003 or just over a year after the implementation of the Second Amendment to the Group Amended Rehabilitation Plan.

According to SEC, the companies are not liquid, have negative net worth and debt-to-equity ratios, very high debt-to-asset ratio, enormous capital deficit and chronic losses.
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Property developer defers fund raising


Posted on June 23, 2013 09:44:54 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
 
LISTED PROPERTY DEVELOPER Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. has moved its multibillion-peso fund-raising exercise -- possibly to 2014 from later this year -- due to prevailing unfavorable market conditions, a senior company official said on Friday last week.
Sta. Lucia Land on Friday bagged the approval of its shareholders to raise P3 billion from a follow-on offering and P6 billion from the issuance of dollar-denominated bonds. 
“The timetable, now that the market behaved as it did -- maybe next year,” David M. Dela Cruz, the firm’s executive vice-president, told reporters following the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Rizal. 
“We were planning it late this year,” he added. 
“We will go only if market conditions permit. We might do either. We might do one. We might do both. We might do one after the other. We still don’t know yet.” 
The stock market has seen intermittent drops lately, largely in step with counterparts worldwide, ever since officials of the US Federal Reserve began hinting late in May of the need to scale back their massive bond-buying stimulus. Last Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a news conference after a policy meeting that day that the US economy has been recovering fast enough to warrant a reduction in bond-buying within the year and a possible end by the middle of 2014. 
While markets worldwide have been bearish since May, when Fed officials started dropping hints of a gradual withdrawal of stimulus, Mr. Bernanke’s more specific timetable last Wednesday weighed further on trading. 
At home, the Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 6,182.17 last Friday, down 2.28% from the previous day though still 6.36% up from its end-2012 closing of 5,812.73. The main index has closed at 31 record highs since the year began, the last one at 7,392.20 on May 15.
Mr. Dela Cruz said the company needs P4.1-4.3 billion to “fast-track existing projects and acquire land bank.” The company, he added, has as many as 25 ongoing projects -- bulk of which are residential -- located all over the country. 
In the meantime, the company has been in talks with banks to fund capital requirements. 
“We are currently opening up lines with banks. We have current dealings with BDO [Unibank], China Bank, BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) and Malayan Bank,” he said. 
“But I think we want to increase the lines with banks.” 
Last Friday, the company also informed its shareholders about a planned P1-billion buyback program to support value of the company’s shares amid the market’s fall. “We want to maintain the company at its fair value,” he said. “If the market dips further, we will do the buyback.” 
The company, he said, is looking to spend P8-10 billion in the next two years “depending on availability of funds.” In the last five months, the company has so far spent “around P2 billion for new and existing projects,” he said. 
Net income of Sta. Lucia Land grew by 4.16% to P40.04 million in the first quarter from P38.44 million in the same three months last year on higher real estate sales. 
Shares of Sta. Lucia Land lost four centavos or 6.06% to 62 centavos on Friday last week from 66 centavos last Thursday. -- C. H. C. Venzon
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Megaworld consolidates property businesses

Posted on June 21, 2013 08:05:16 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]

TYCOON Andrew L. Tan is moving to consolidate his real estate assets under Megaworld Corp., based on a company disclosure on Friday.

The move comes barely a month after the SM Group announced that it was merging its property assets under SM Prime Holdings, Inc., creating the largest property firm in terms of market capitalization.

"Megaworld seeks to consolidate the real estate businesses of its affiliates under the Megaworld brand to better capitalize on real estate opportunities and capture the expected growth momentum of GERI (Global-Estate Resorts, Inc.), ELI (Empire East Land Holdings, Inc.) and Suntrust Properties, Inc. within the next five years," the company said.

Megaworld said it subscribed on Friday to 2.5 billion shares from Global-Estate at par value of P2.26 per share for a total value of P5.65 billion.

Of the total subscription, 25%, worth P1.4125 billion, will be paid on June 26, while the remaining P4.2375 billion will paid upon the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the transaction, the firm said.

In a separate disclosure, mixed-use developer Empire East said 1.2 billion of its shares had been acquired by Megaworld at P1.05 per share. The total price of P1.26 billion will be paid on June 26.

Last week, Megaworld acquired 100% of Suntrust, for nearly P600 million. Suntrust has housing developments in Cavite, Laguna and Manila.

Officials were not immediately available for additional details, such as Megaworld's ownership in Global-Estate and Empire East, after the transactions.

The SM Group announced last month that mall builder SM Prime Holdings, Inc. will be the holding company of the Sy family's real estate firms SM Development Corp., SM Land, Inc. and other hotels and convention centers owned by the family.

Meanwhile, Megaworld's net profit stood at P1.82 billion in the first quarter, up by 15.19% from P1.58 billion in the same period last year.

Revenues grew by 16.43% to P8.15 billion from P7.00 billion in the same comparative periods.

Costs and expenses increased by 18.96% to P6.33 billion from P5.32 billion year-on-year.

Shares of Megaworld dropped 21 centavos or 5.93% to P3.33 apiece on Friday. -- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon
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SEC orders dissolution of Uniwide

Posted on June 20, 2013 10:35:47 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered the dissolution of six firms under Uniwide Group after regulators denied the firm’s bid for corporate rehabilitation, the company said in disclosure yesterday.

“The dissolution of all companies in the group, namely: Uniwide Sales, Inc.; Uniwide Holdings, Inc.; Naic Resources & Development Corp.; Uniwide Sales Realty and Resources Corp.; First Paragon Corp.; and Uniwide Sales Warehouse Club, Inc. is hereby ordered,” the decision of the corporate regulator, which was attached to the company’s disclosure to the stock exchange, read.

At the same time, SEC also denied the group’s bid for a corporate rehabilitation.

In the decision dated May 30, 2013, the SEC said it found several reasons leading to the firm’s denial of corporate restructuring.

“The special hearing panel observed that at the time of filing of the petition for rehabilitation on 25 June 1999, petitioner-appellants were solvent as their assets (P19.86 billion) exceeded liabilities (P11.10 billion), but they had difficulty in meeting their obligations,” the 28-page en banc decision read.

Petitioner-appellants “have very high debt-to-asset ratio,” it added. A debt ratio greater than 1.0 means the company has negative net worth and is technically bankrupt.

“The special hearing panel also saw the enormous capital deficit of the petitioner-appellants,” the SEC added.

Uniwide was established by the Gow family as a textile bargain house in January 1975.

It used to be one of the leading retail companies in the Philippines.

Shares of Uniwide Holdings were last traded on Jan. 18, 2010. It closed then at P0.135 apiece before trading of its shares was suspended. -- CHCV
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Robinsons Retail Group firms up P40-B IPO plan

By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 21, 2013 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines -  The Gokongwei family’s Robinsons Retail Group has firmed up its plan to raise as much as P40 billion through an initial public offering (IPO).

The company behind Robinsons supermarkets and department stores plans to conduct potentially one of the largest public share sale by a Philippine firm, said International Financing Review (IFR), a publication of Thomson Reuters.

IFR reported that Robinsons Retail Group targets to sell 461.9 million shares at a maximum price of P86.64 each to generate up to P40 billion in fresh capital.

Robinsons Retail’s listing application was not immediately available at the Securities and Exchange Commission

The retail group of property giant Robinsons Land Corp. claims to be the country’s second largest retailer, next only to SM Retail Inc. of the Philippines’ richest man Henry Sy. Robinsons Retail Group owns and operates 35 department stores and 73 supermarkets nationwide.

The IPO is scheduled in the third quarter, IFR said, adding that Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS were tapped to facilitate the offering.

The aggressive fundraising program, which comes at a time when the local stock market is being battered by massive foreign fund selling could be one of the largest share sale by a Filipino company.

In April, LT Group Inc. of taipan Lucio Tan raised a record P37.72 billion in a follow-on offering while SM Investments Corp. secured P28.75 billion during its IPO in 2005.

Since hitting its 31st record high for the year at 7,392.20 on May 15, benchmark the Philippine Stock Exchange index has since eased back to the 6,500 level as foreign funds book profits amid the economic recovery in US.

Robinsons Retail Group is under conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., which is also into budget airline (Cebu Pacific), banking (Robinsons Bank Corp.), petrochemicals (JG Summit Petrochemicals Corp.), and snacks and beverage (Universal Robina Corp.).
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