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Ginoong Tagapangulo, sa mga kagalang-galang na miyembro ng lupon na ito, tumitindig po ako sa pulpitong ito sa bisa ng kolektibo at personal na pribilehiyo na iginawad sa inyong abang lingkod ng mamamayang Pilipino.
Sen. Robinhood "Robin" C. Padilla on Monday filed a resolution seeking to finally address the long-standing issue of whether the Senate and House of Representatives should vote separately or jointly in amending the 1987 Constitution.
The People's Initiative (PI) remains a valid method of introducing amendments to the 1987 Constitution, but it is unacceptable if it is bastardized.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. led a town hall meeting with highland vegetable industry stakeholders during a visit to the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center on January 26, 2024.
SP New Energy [SPNEC 1.21 suspended] [link] was suspended at the close of trading on Friday by the PSE after a block sale pushed SPNEC’s public float down to 19.57%, below the PSE’s minimum public float requirement of 20%. Earlier in the day, SPNEC disclosed a change in the number of issued shares from ~34 billion to ~50 billion after the SEC approved the amendments to SPNEC’s articles of incorporation to increase its authorized capital stock to facilitate Meralco’s [MER 377.40, down 0.7%; 91% avgVol] takeover of SPNEC through its subsidiary, MGEN. SPNEC’s disclosure, issued at around 10:30 AM, showed that the change in the number of issued shares would reduce SPNEC’s public float from 23.8% to 20.01%. The PSE’s suspension order was issued at 3:27 p.m., and mentioned only that the “execution of block sale applications” had caused the stock to slip below the 20% minimum threshold.
Ayala Land [ALI 34.00, down 0.4%; 134% avgVol] [link] disclosed that it sold 181 million shares of its subsidiary, AREIT [AREIT 32.00, down 4.5%; 4854% avgVol], at P31.10/share which was a 7.2% discount to the previous day’s closing price. The sale raised approximately P5.6 billion for ALI, but more importantly, it pushed 181 million AREIT shares into the public float ahead of its planned property-for-share swap with AREIT. Under the terms of the swap, AREIT will issue 841.3 million primary shares to ALI and its subsidiaries and affiliates, and ALI must sell approximately 260 million shares to avoid an AREIT public float violation when the transaction is approved by the SEC.
A Brown Company [BRN 0.64, down 3.0%; 127% avgVol] [link] notified the exchange that the SEC approved its plan to sell a second tranche of preferred shares under its shelf registration. BRN plans to sell 15 million preferred shares at P100/share to raise P1.5 billion. The prospectus called for the tranche to be split into two series (Series B and Series C) and listed separately as BRNPB and BRNPC. The first tranche of preferred shares sold under this shelf registration was sold to raise P1.5 billion and was listed in November 2021 under the ticker BRNP. BRN intends to use up to P1 billion of the proceeds to fund the “development of pipeline projects” in its real estate portfolio, and to spend approximately P300 million on buying land in Mindanao and Luzon to add to its landbank.
The SEC released a draft memorandum for comment last week [link] which looks to regulate how “cornerstone investors” may participate in IPOs going forward. According to the SEC, a cornerstone investor receives IPO offer shares “with a guaranteed allocation at the final offer price”. The SEC notes that cornerstone investors “stimulate investor demand in an IPO”, and can “lend credibility”, “boost confidence”, and “deliver a positive signal to the market.” That said, the SEC is looking to: (1) regulate the information that a potential cornerstone investor might receive about an IPO to make sure that they are not provided with “any material information beyond that [in the prospectus]”, (2) require disclosure of cornerstone investors in any IPO prospectus, (3) require cornerstone investors pay the same price as retail, and (4) submit cornerstone investor shares to a 30-day lock-up from the IPO.