...Firm to pursue other fundraising means

MANILA, Philippines — Dito CME Holdings Corp., the communications, media, and entertainment arm of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Group, plans to pursue other fundraising means, which may include the relaunching of a stock rights offering (SRO), once market conditions improve.

In a detailed disclosure in relation to its deferred P8-billion SRO, Dito CME said the decision was a “long thought-out process with extensive discussions” between the company, majority shareholder Udenna Corp., and the sole underwriter China Bank Capital Corp.

Dito CME said the deferment of the SRO would be in the best interest of the company, especially its minority shareholder.

“After the pricing of the SRO in December 2021, the Philippine financial markets opened on a negative note in 2022 due to the sudden occurrence of events, particularly the COVID Omicron variant surge and hawkish pronouncements of the Federal Reserve,” the company said.

“Hence, with the less than ideal market conditions, the company believes that it has the obligation to ensure that the investment of all its shareholders, including the minority shareholders, are sufficiently protected and that other viable options to raise funds are instead pursued by the company,” it said.

Dito CME said it intends to relaunch an offering to interested investors as the market continues to see the growth of the company’s business and with more stable conditions in the Philippine capital markets hopefully in the coming months.

“We note that various investors have expressed disappointment in not being able to continue the SRO, but the company will definitely pursue options of relaunching the SRO, a public offer, or other fundraising means, as soon as market conditions have improved, with the approval of the regulators,” it said.

Dito CME said it is working closely with AB Stock Transfers Corp. to ensure that funds received by investors are returned at the soonest possible time.

The company embarked on an SRO in hopes of raising P8 billion which was intended to be used primarily to fund its telco services all over the country in fulfillment of the company’s technical audit requirements.

In a separate statement, third telecommunications player Dito Telecommunity, which is 54 percent owned by Dito CME, said it would be inappropriate for the company to comment directly on the deferment of the SRO simply because it is a separate and unique company from Dito CME.

“That said, we are confident that Dito Telecommunity shareholders are in a position to ensure the operation of the company given the strong showing of Dito --the milestones it has achieved from the network rollout to the audit results, the number of commercial touchpoints, and most especially the number of subscribers since our commercial launch, a mere 10 months ago,” the telco said.

Dito said it already achieved 50 percent of its 2022 goal of 12 million total subscribers to date.

The company said its network rollout also remains on track to reach the 70 percent coverage and 55 Mbps average download speed for the upcoming third independent audit  in July.

“Our assessment is that given these indicators, Dito Telecommunity remains a viable and sustainable business as we remain steadfast in our commitment to partner with the Philippine government and our private sector partners to provide world class, affordable, connectivity to Filipinos wherever they may be,” the company said.