ADB grants $1-b loan to modernize Davao City’s public transport system

By Julito G. Rada

THE Asian Development Bank approved on Thursday a $1-billion or nearly P55.5-billion loan to help establish a city-wide public transport project in Davao City.

Called the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project, it would be the first in the country to deploy electric bus fleets at scale in support of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and promote climate action.

ADB’s largest road-based public transport project in the Philippines is expected to serve as a pilot for overhauling the country’s public road transport system.

Holcim PH plans to delist from PSE after Dutch firm buys P2.3-b stake

By Jenniffer B. Austria

CEMENT manufacturer Holcim Philippines, Inc. said Thursday it plans to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange after a major shareholder increased its stake in the company, causing its public ownership to fall below 10 percent.

HPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it received a notice from Holderfin B.V. that it acquired 594.9 million shares in the company owned by Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co. Ltd. This is equivalent to 9.22-percent stake in HPI.

The deal was conducted via a block sale worth P2.3 billion, which translates into acquisition price of P3.92 per share.

Post-Acquisition, total shareholdings of Holderfin, a Dutch company, in HPI increased to 27.33 percent from 18.11 percent of the company’s outstanding capital stock.

This reduced HPI’s public float to 5.05 percent from 14.27 percent as Sumitomo shares were attributed to shares held by the public.

HPI said Holderfin would be unable to issue additional shares to the public sufficient to raise its public float to the required level given the prevailing market conditions.

“Holderfin is prepared to make a tender offer for all outstanding common shares of the company held by the public with the aim of subsequently conducting a voluntary delisting of the company’s common shares from the main board of the PSE,” HPI said.

“Given Holderfin’s willingness to conduct the tender offer and voluntary delisting, the company is carefully evaluating the feasibility and potential benefits of pursuing the voluntary delisting,” it said.

The PSE immediately implemented a trading suspension on HPI shares. Prior to the trading suspension, the price of HPI closed at P3.87 on Wednesday.

HPI owns and operates four cement production facilities and one cement grinding mill with total production capacity of 10 million metric tons.

The cement firm saw its net income decline by 63 percent in 2022 to P941.77 million from P2.56 billion in 2021 on higher fuel and energy cost.

NEW

It will support the procurement of a modern fleet of about 1,100 buses with operations managed by the private sector under performance-based contracts. The new fleet is expected to reduce 60 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions from public transport in Davao City, the country’s third-largest city by population, the ADB said. ADB senior transport specialist for Southeast Asia Shuji Kimura said in a statement the project would transform the quality of Davao City’s public transport and support the city’s rapid economic growth with a low-carbon and climate-resilient bus system.

“Not only will this support the Philippines’ climate goals, but it will help to improve the lives of vulnerable populations especially women and the young who use public transport daily,” Kimura said.

The project will service about 800,000 passengers a day. It also involves the construction of around 1,000 bus stops with bright lighting and shelters, five bus depots and three bus terminals and providing bus driving training for the new system.

It will upgrade the city’s public transport experience via an intelligent transport system that includes a bus location system, automatic fare collection sys-

By Alena Mae S. Flores

REPOWER Energy Development Corp. said Thursday Japanese conglomerate TOKAI Holdings Corp. will participate as an anchor investor in its planned initial public offering.

REDC said in a statement that under the terms of the agreement, TOKAI would take a 32.5-percent stake from the IPO.

“We are pleased on TOKAI’s commitment to participate in our IPO as this is a testament to the market’s growing interest in our company,” REDC president and chief executive Eric Peter Rox- as said.

REDC will allocate a board seat to TOKAI on an observer status. TOKAI is a Japan-based listed conglomerate involved in various sectors such as gas, solar power and real estate.

“We look forward to taking advantage of the synergies available to us as a result of our partnership with TOKAI such as our expansion into the Japanese renewable energy market, specifically run-of-the-river hydropower projects where our expertise and TOKAI’s reach in Japan will prove invaluable,” Roxas said.

TOKAI, with annual revenues of 180 billion yen, has 39 consolidated subsidiaries and 10 affiliates with investments across retail, commercial and industrial markets.

REDC, a subsidiary of Pure Energy Holdings Corp., is looking to raise P1.15 billion by offering common shares at P5 apiece.

It will offer a total of 200 million common shares, with an overallotment option that would allow the sale of another 30 million common shares.

The company said it would start its offer period on June 30, with the settlement date set on July 14, 2023.