REPUBLIC Cement and Building Materials Inc., the former Lafarge Republic Inc., has filed a petition to be delisted from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) effective on March 15 this year.
The delisting is part of the Aboitiz group’s plan to take the company private after it was able to control the company.
The company said it is applying for a voluntary delisting, as it will also not comply with the PSE’s 10- percent minimum public-float rule.
At the moment, AEV CRH Holdings Inc. now owns 99.09 percent of the company, and the public only holds 0.91 percent after a tender offer has been implemented by the new owners since August last year.
AEV-CRH is a joint venture company of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Dutch firm Cement Roadstone Holdings Inc.
In 2014 French firm Lafarge and Swiss Holcim announced the two companies would be combined to create the world’s largest cement firm, now called LafargeHolcim.
The merger, however, didn’t happen in the Philippines, where Holcim and Larfarge each has about a third of the market.
Instead, Holcim, Lafarge and CRH International entered into an agreement in January last year to allow CRH to purchase certain assets and/or businesses of either the French or the Swiss firm in several countries, including the Philippines.
The then-owners of Lafarge Republic allowed CRH to purchase their shares, which initially totaled 88.85 percent of the company. A tender offer was made for the remaining shares they have not yet owned.
Some of Lafarge Republic’s assets were purchased by Holcim Philippines, another listed company, but its official said it has to outbid several other for the said Lafarge Republic properties.
The properties that Holcim Philippines was able to acquire include shares of stock of Lafarge Republic Aggregates Inc., Quimson Limestones Inc., Sigma Cee Mining Corp. and APC Properties Inc.; the Star Terminal assets at the Harbour Centre, Manila; and certain parcels of land. The total purchase price of that deal is at P3.09 billion.