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THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) disclosed on Monday that two
listed companies have deviated from their original plans on the use
of the proceeds from capital raising activities during the first
quarter this year.
The local bourse said that upon evaluating
reports for the first three months, it saw some “discrepancies in
some of the listed companies’ actual disbursements” vis-a-vis
the representations made in their respective offering prospectus.
In the case of Aboitiz Power Corp. (AP), which
raised P9.64 billion from its maiden share offering last year, it
spent P16.2 million more than its original budget of P4.45 million
in capacity expansion. This includes potential acquisitions of power
generation facilities. AP told the PSE that this expansion includes
the acquisition of the 34-percent stake in Steag State Power, Inc.
for $101 million.
“The total acquisition cost in Philippine
pesos was 4.405 billion. Also part of this item were expenses
incurred in relation to AP’s bid for PNOC-EDC, Palinpinon,
Tongonan and Ambuklao-Binga, which amounted to P28.9 million,” the
company said.
AP also jacked up its budget for greenfield
projects by almost P4 billion, up from the original allocation of
P4.6 billion. The firm told the PSE that about P736 million had been
spent and P484 million of this was for the Cebu Coal project that
broke ground on January. The balance of P252 million went to its
Hedcor Sibulan hydro project.
At end-March, AP bought additional shares in
existing power distribution firms worth P270 million, which was not
included in its prospectus. The company bought the remaining
20-percent stake in Subic Enerzone Corp. for P92 million in January.
It also acquired the remaining 40 percent in Balamban Enerzone Corp.
for about P178 million in March. The acquisitions allowed AP to
fully own these subsidiaries by the end of last quarter.
While it increased the allocation for these
items, only P67 million had been disbursed so far from the original
P125 million.
Apart from AP, the PSE also cited Phoenix
Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which raised P19.6 million from its
maiden share offering. Phoenix spent more than P2 million each for
tanks and signage than originally planned, P37.5 million more on
civil works and P25.4 million higher for lorry trucks.
The company said these higher expenditures cover
the depot and terminal expansion to “provide for the increasing
volumes and business activities of the company as a result of the
increase in network of retail service station.” Phoenix is now
expanding its Davao depot facilities.
Phoenix also spent on items not on its initial
public offering prospectus such as its SAP computerization worth
P12.4 million.
‘To address timely, accurate and efficient
delivery of information both for its operations and accounting data
in July 2007, the company upgraded its information system to a
SAP-based integrated computer system automating its transaction
processing from the time products are procured until they are
delivered to clients. This move is to provide better support service
to the company’s growing business and address the need for good,
reliable and readily available information for strategic decision
making,” Phoenix said.
In addition, the company bought service vehicles
for marketing personnel worth P4.87 million “to enable the company
to realize fast its target volume and search for better location and
dealer for expansion its retail network.”
“The actual amounts maybe higher from the
estimated outlined disbursements in the offering prospectus.
However, the actual disbursements of the IPO proceeds were within
the categories as described in the company’s offering prospectus
and were used within similar corporate purposes,” Phoenix added.
-- Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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