PSE to lift trading suspension on Dito...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange said it would lift the trading suspension on Dito CME Holdings Corp. today (Feb. 2).

This was after Dito CME provided additional information in relation to the deferment of its P8-billion stock rights offering, including the schedule for the refund of payments for the subscriptions.

“In view of the foregoing, trading of Dito shares will resume on Feb  2 at 10:30 a.m,” the PSE said.

At the same time, the PSE said the lifting of the trading halt should not be construed as an approval by the exchange of the deferment of the offering and is without prejudice to any regulatory action that the exchange may pursue in order to ensure full compliance with the applicable rules and for the protection of the investing public consistent with the mandate of the exchange, as a self-regulatory organization, to maintain a fair and orderly market.

Dito CME had scrapped its P8 billion stock rights offering, noting that current market conditions are less than ideal to pursue the offering and that there are other perceived risks.

“In consultation with China Bank Capital and the support of Udenna, Dito CME decided that a deferment of the SRO would be in the best interest of the company, and especially its minority shareholders. 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-19 Omicron variant surge and hawkish pronouncements of the Federal Reserve.

“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.

As such, the company determined that the best course of action is to preserve the status quo, for now, and to defer the SRO,” Dito CME said.

It said the company would start refunding customers today  of subscription payments they had made.

Dito was aiming to raise P8 billion from its offering of 1.64 billion common shares, priced at P4.88 per share.