Philex Mining plans stock rights offer

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led Philex Mining Corp. is targeting to conduct its stock rights offering (SRO) next month.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Philex said the tentative start of offer period for the SRO is on July 14.

The offer is targeted to end on July 15.

The SRO will cover a maximum of 842 million shares, while the offer price has yet to be announced by the company, but the maximum offer price was set at P4.81 per share.

“Please note that the conduct of the SRO and the relevant details, including the timetable, are still subject to regulatory approvals and are not yet final,”Philex Mining said.

It said there would be necessary adjustment on the outstanding shares and price on the ex-rights date.

In April, Philex announced it was pushing back the timetable for its P3.15 billion SRO amid volatility in the financial markets.

The listed mining firm and BDO Capital & Investment Corp. have agreed to further adjust the timetable of the proposed stock rights offer “to a later date given the current market volatility to help ensure its success.”

Net proceeds from the offer could amount to P3.059 billion.

Philex chief finance officer and treasurer Romeo Bachoco earlier said part of the $224-million funding needed for the starter mine of the Silangan Copper-Gold project in Surigao del Norte would come from the SRO.

“The SRO will contribute approximately P3.1 billion or $61 million. Philex, out of its cash surplus from its current operations, will infuse between $50 million to $60 million – so P2.5 billion to P3 billion will be infused by Philex into the Silangan project,” Bachoco said.

“Any balance that will be left from that SRO and cash infusion through Philex, will be raised through debts,” Bachoco said.

Philex is set to begin the development of the first phase of the Silangan project this year, which will produce around 2,000 tons of ore per day.

This will be ramped up to 12,000 tons a day or four million tons a year by the 12th year of operations.

The mine is targeted to commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2025.