Lopez Inc. completes payment for additional ABS-CBN shares

MANILA, Philippines - Listed holding firm Lopez Inc. has fully paid a P1.5 billion transaction involving the acquisition of additional common shares in multimedia giant ABS-CBN Corp.

ABS-CBN Corp. assistant corporate secretary Enrique Quiason informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that Lopez Inc. has paid the full amount for the acquisition of 34.7 million common shares of ABS-CBN Corp. The shares were acquired for P43.225 per share.

The purchase price represented a 2.1 percent discount to the 45-day volume-weighted average price for ABS-CBN Philippine Deposit Receipts (PDRs) and 3.2 percent premium to the 45-day volume-weighted average price for ABS-CBN common shares as of May 14.

Last June 25, the Lopezes paid 25 percent of the total subscription price and committed to pay the remaining 75 percent on or before Dec. 31.

ABS-CBN earlier raised P2.5 billion through an issuance of Philippine Deposit Receipts to Capital International Private Equity Fund VI LP (CIPEF) of the US-based the Capital Group that manages about $6.7 billion worth of funds across the globe.

Upon completion of the share and PDR subscriptions, Lopez Inc. would hold 56 percent of the outstanding common shares and retain voting control of 79 percent of all outstanding shares.

CIPEF VI has a fund size of $3 billion focused on expansion capital and buyout in global emerging markets and is part of the six funds managed by the group across the globe with aggregate commitments of approximately $6.7 billion.

Earlier, ABS-CBN chief finance officer Rolando Valdueza said proceeds of the fund raising activities would be used further to expand the distribution of ABS-CBN content to the widest array of platforms available including Digital Terrestrial Television.

ABS-CBN  is spending P5 billion for its capital expenditures this year, almost the same as last year’s P4.9 billion mainly to go to equipment replacement, transmission facilities, film and program rights acquisition, among others.

About P2 billion of this year’s capital expenditures went to SkyCable. The amount is slightly higher than last year’s budget of P1.8 billion.