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KEPPEL
Philippines Marine Inc. said it may delist its unit from
the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) after parent KS
Investments succeeds in buying out all the minority
shareholders.
Yeo
Chien Sheng Nelson, the company’s chairman, said they
will continue to buy the shares of the remaining
minority shareholders for the rest of the year, but not
at its tender offer of P2.50 apiece.
“The
fact that we made a tender offer and we plan to acquire
more shares, we have the intention of [becoming]
private. Having said that, if the shareholders so decide
to stay with us, we cannot force them,” Nelson said.
According to the company, the move of Singapore-based KS
Investments—which, in turn, is wholly owned by Keppel
Offshore & Marine Ltd.—is part of the group’s
consolidation program in relation to its regional
investments in the marine industry.
“We
still have [a] big number of shareholders. We are
interested to continue [to] buy out some of [them]. But
for the moment we maintain the status quo,” Nelson said.
During
its April-to-May tender offer, Keppel said they were
able to buy only 1.25 percent of the total 6.8 percent
shares held by private investors.
Keppel
Marine manufactures small- to medium-sized vessels. In
the past months its Batangas shipyard has been serving
to complement large projects of its mother unit, such as
an oil-rig component, as well as storage and offloading
vessels, rather than building stand-alone ships.
The move
of KS Investments to increase its shareholdings in
Keppel Marine began in January 2006 when it bought 29.33
of the shipyard operator. That same year KS Investment
was able to acquire up to 93.19 percent of Keppel
Marine’s outstanding common shares. The transactions
were approved by the PSE.
Keppel
Marine has two main shipyards—one each in the provinces
of Batangas and Cebu—and holds a minority stake in Subic
Shipyard and Engineering Inc.
The
company said it expects Philippine shipyards to be
active in the near term. Its Batangas facility will
support the operations of the Keppel Group while its
Cebu shipyard will serve the needs of the international
shipping industry.
Subic
Shipyard is expected to focus on ship-repair and
conversion works for international shipping companies.
For the
first three months of the year, the company turned in a
net profit of P135.13 million, up 60 percent from P84.64
million a year earlier. |
