PSE approves listing of GSIS-owned Alternergy preferred shares

Alternergy [ALTER 0.76, down 1.3%] [link] disclosed that the PSE has approved its application to list the 100 million preferred shares that it sold to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) at a price of P14.50/share. The shares will be listed today under the ticker symbol “ALTP2”.

MB bottom-line: Kind of a nothingburger, since GSIS is the only entity (so far) that owns ALTP2 shares. It would be odd for GSIS to sell the shares that it just bought half a year ago, so it’s super likely that ALTP2 will list today and have zero trading volume for the foreseeable future. That said, all other things being equal, if you’re GSIS you’d rather the shares be listed. It maximizes the potential value of the shares (ease of exchange adds value), and their listing gives GSIS flexibility to adjust its holdings on the public market without having to engage firms to conduct a private sale. It also gives ALTER the ability to sell additional preferred shares from this series to buyers who might want (and pay a little more for) the added flexibility that listed preferred shares provide over their unlisted counterparts.

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