secures shareholders’ approval to delist from PSE

By Jenniffer B. Austria

METRO Pacific Investments Corp., one of the country’s largest conglomerates, said Tuesday it obtained shareholders’ approval to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

MPIC chairman and president Manuel Pangilinan said during the company’s special stockholders meeting that more than two-thirds of shareholders approved the resolution for the company to voluntary delist from the local bourse.

Shareholders owning 22.3 billion MPIC shares, or equivalent to 77.7 percent of total outstanding common shares, voted in favor of delisting, while share- holders owning 69.38 million shares or less than 1 percent voted against it.

MPIC said with the shareholders’ approval, the consortium of companies planning to take the company private would launch the tender offer to acquire shares owned by minority shareholders on Aug. 9 which would run until Sept.

7. MPIC expects to delist by Oct. 9.

The consortium, composed of Metro

Pacific Holdings Inc., MIG Holdings Inc., GT Capital Holdings Inc. and MitPacific Infrastructure Holdings Corp., offered to acquire all outstanding MPIC common shares other than those they already own at P5.20 apiece.

“We are pleased with the result from the MPIC shareholder meeting which allows the tender offer to begin, the ultimate objective of the vote today. Since announcing our offer price, we have received favorable feedback from the market, with institutional investors and stock brokerages stating that it is fair and acceptable. Therefore, we look forward to a successful completion of the delisting transaction,” said Christopher Young, executive director of First Pacific Co. Ltd.,

DOF: 12.1% of 2024 gov’t budget for debt service

FINANCE Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Tuesday 12.1 percent, or P699.2 billion of the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for fiscal year 2024 is allocated to financing the debt burden, including net lending.

“When assessing the debt burden component of the budget, it is crucial to solely consider interest payments and net lending,” Diokno said in a statement.

the parent company of MPIC.

Pangilinan said with the impending exit of MPIC from the local bourse, the group still planned to list its tollways, hospital and water utility firms in the PSE which woud allow shareholders to invest directly in the underlying assets of the group.

Pangilinan said the tollways group was planning to conduct an initial public offering as early as 2024 to raise fresh capital to fund big-ticket infrastructure projects.

The hospital group is also considering an IPO, while Maynilad Water Services Inc. is required to list its shares on the local bourse under the concession agreement.

He said interest payments were declining, freeing up fiscal resources which could be reallocated to support the government’s priority programs. Data showed that from 1986 to 2015, the average share of interest payments to the total national government expenditures stood at 23.3 percent. This declined to an average of 10.1 percent from 2016 to 2022.

“For 2024, the allocation for interest payments is only 11.6 percent or P670.5 billion of the 2024 budget. This allows us to spend more on socioeconomic programs and projects in our priority sectors such as education and infrastructure,” Diokno said.

Diokno also said that under any accounting standard, the principal amortization of debt is not included in the expense item since it is not classified as expenditure, hence it is not automatically appropriated. “The settlement of debt obligations incurred from expenses were already recorded in the past. Therefore, principal amortization only represents the fulfillment of financial responsibilities arising from previously recorded expenses,” he said. Julito G. Rada

AirAsia PH expands operations in Cebu AIRASIA Philippines said Tuesday it is expanding its operations in Cebu to strengthen its connectivity to other destinations in the country and in ASEAN.

“Our main growth will be in Cebu. Our team is now working out on putting plans together to grow flights to and from Cebu. As we speak, we now have Japan, South Korea and China,” said Tony Fernandes, president and chief executive of Capital A, the parent company of AirAsia.

“We will do more flights to Bangkok and Bali connecting to Cebu,” he added.

AirAsia Philippines flies seven times daily from Manila to Cebu. Flights to Caticlan and Davao via Cebu remain at three times weekly.

Flights to international destinations such as Narita (Tokyo), and Seoul (Incheon) remain daily, while flights to Taipei continue to commence four times weekly.

Fernandes, who also expressed the intention of bringing the ride-hailing app airasia Ride to Cebu, highlighted the importance of improving major hubs such as Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Manila International Airport to attract more tourists and help rebuild the tourism industry. Darwin G. Amojelar

FILIPINO PRODUCTS. The Department of Trade and Industry and Air Asia Philippines sign a memorandum of agreement, making Air Asia the first international airline to carry Go Lokal products and showcase the Philippines’ finest local products in both domestic and global flights. Signing the agreement are AirAsia Philippines chief executive Ricardo Isla (left) and DTI assistant secretary Glenn Peñaranda. Joining them are director Marievic Bonoan of the DTI-Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion and Air Asia ancillary manager Pax Paloma.