Despite delisting, Calata says it’s business as usual

MANILA, Philippines — Calata Corp. said it would be business as usual for the agribusiness company despite its delisting from the official registry of the Philippine Stock Exchange effective Monday.

“There will be no effect on the business. We will just go back to being private. The company has been growing since 2001 and until it listed in 2012. People should realize that being listed on the exchange is just one aspect. It does not affect the operations of the company, which has been strong since 2001 even before it listed,” company chairman Joseph Calata told The STAR over the weekend.

He likewise assured the company’s suppliers and customers that Calata’s growth and expansion plans would  continue.

Being delisted means Calata would just revert to being a private company and join majority of the corporations which are private.

On Friday, the PSE announced it denied with finality the company’s motion for reconsideration filed last Nov. 8.

“After due consideration and evaluation of the arguments presented in the MR, the Exchange resolved to deny the company’s MR for lack of merit. Accordingly, the Exchange affirmed, with finality, the delisting of the company’s shares from the Official Registry of the Exchange and the imposition of the concomitant penalties under the Exchange’s Delisting rules,” said PSE president & CEO Ramon Monzon.

The PSE’s delisting comes even as the company had planned to implement a planned gradual buyback of shares held by the public.

The company earlier said it would look into the gradual buyback of the shares held by the public even if the tender offer is not mandatory.”

It was found to have committed 55 violations of disclosure rules. It first suspended the trading of Calata shares prior to initiating delisting procedures.

Calata was also found  to have violated the ‘blackout rule’ which prohibits directors and principal officers who have obtained material non-public information to trade their company’s shares within a prescribed period.

The PSE’s blackout rule is meant to provide a fair market environment to the investing public by disallowing the possible trading of company insiders using non-public information that they may have access to by virtue of their position in the company.

The Calata chairman had proposed an alternative for shareholders which is cryptocurrency wherein the company will issue digital tokens called Calcoins to every shareholder of Calata.