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ISM Communications Corp., a listed company controlled by former
trade and industry minister Roberto Ongpin, said its board approved
Monday the raising of funds through a stock rights offer for its
venture in information technology-related business.
The stock rights offer cover two billion shares
at P0.026 per share, or a ratio of one share for every five shares
owned by the firm’s existing shareholders.
The price offer was the median price of the
ISM’s shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange for the last ten
trading days. ISM plans to raise about P655 million of additional
capital from the exercise.
Investopedia defines stock rights offering as
issuing rights to a company’s existing shareholders to buy a
proportional number of additional securities at a given price or
usually at a discount within a fixed period.
The company intends to use the funds to be
raised from the rights offering to gain advantage for the IT-related
business opportunities it is presently negotiating. The company’s
thrust is to grow its portfolio of investments in the
telecommunications and information technology industries, ISM said.
ISM also said that Ashmore Funds and
Philweb Corp. committed to subscribe to their maximum entitlements
under the rights offering.
At present, Ashmore Investment Management
Ltd. owns around 31.2 percent of ISM while Philweb Corp. owns 17.64
percent.
Ashmore, a major investment fund based in the
United Kingdom with funds under management of about $32 billion, has
infused $10 million into ISM through private placement.
The company is assured of full
subscription as “Ashmore Funds and Philweb also committed to take
up any unsubscribed shares of the rights offering.”
ISM will ratify and approve the stock rights
offer on August 4 during the company’s special stockholders’
meeting.
The firm currently holds about 77.7 percent of
the outstanding capital stock of Eastern Communications Philippines
Inc., the country’s oldest telecommunications company.
ISM used to be called Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc.
until a restructuring in 2002 that shifted the company’s focus to
information technology, telecommunications, multimedia and other
related business lines.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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