Eagle Cement to voluntarily delist from PSE and 2 more market updates
Eagle Cement [EAGLE 19.12 0.93%] [link] said that it will voluntarily delist from the PSE, once San Miguel’s [SMC 101.00] buyout is approved by the necessary regulatory bodies (like the Philippine Competition Commission), and when the subsequent tender offer by SMC to buy up the remaining minority shares is complete.
MB Quick Take: Nothing surprising about this. EAGLE’s free float is tiny, so the cost of bayonetting the survivors is around just P12.7 billion. That sounds like a lot, but the share purchase agreement between the buyer, Ramon Ang, and the seller, Ramon Ang, is worth nearly P100 billion. At least SMC and EAGLE are making their post-transaction intentions known. Any information that increases certainty is useful.
NOW Telecom [NOW 0.95 11.21%] [link] had its application for injunctive relief denied by the Quezon City regional trial court. NOW had asked the court to issue a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from implementing and enforcing the cease and desist notice it issued to NOW when NOW’s 25-year franchise expired in September of 2021. In May, the NTC recalled NOW’s assigned frequencies, including all of its channels and provisional authorities. NOW had argued that it wasn’t officially notified in writing about the cease and desist order, and that they held valid authority through temporary permits to operate until February 2024. NOW said that the implementation of the cease and desist order “is an imminent threat to its existence”, but the RTC noted that NOW did not question the “existence” and “authenticity” of the NTC cease and desist order. The court found that NOW did not have a legal right to the relief that it sought, so it rejected the application for the preliminary injunction.
MB Quick Take: NOW’s stock fell more than 11% on the day. While the bill to renew NOW’s franchise has passed several readings, it’s still pending, and as we’ve seen with the ABS-CBN [ABS 7.82 2.22%] fiasco, renewals can fail in the House for any number of political or emotional reasons. And, unfortunately for NOW, the reasons for non-renewal don’t even have to be good reasons.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) [link] said that there would be no “off-cycle” meetings of the BSP Monetary Board for the remainder of the year. The BSP will stick to the two scheduled meetings on November 17 and December 15.
MB Quick Take: The last time the BSP met off-cycle, it raised rates by 75 basis points in a hasty game of catch-up. It sounds like the BSP feels that it’s now caught-up and where it wants to be, but it’s basically watching the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) for guidance. The BSP isn’t copy-trading exactly, but it’s definitely looking over at the Fed's test answers to make sure it’s in the same general area as the Fed.
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Merkado Barkada's opinions are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any particular stock. These daily articles are not updated with new information, so each investor must do his or her own due diligence before trading, as the facts and figures in each particular article may have changed.
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