By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter
LOTTE Chilsung Beverage Co. Ltd. will proceed with its plan to acquire more shares in listed Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI) as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asks for more submissions from the company.
The Korean conglomerate told PCPPI in a letter last week about the SEC’s review of its plan to buy PCPPI shares. Lotte Chilsung’s letter was disclosed by PCPPI to the stock exchange on Monday.
The SEC evaluated the fairness opinion of Punongbayan & Araullo, Lotte Chilsung and PCPPI’s financial advisor for the tender offer, and asked Lotte Chilsung to submit an amended tender offer report to include other requirements such as the results of other valuation procedures.
“Lotte Chilsung would like to assure PCPPI shareholders of its intention to complete the transaction as provided under the terms and conditions of the tender offer,” the company wrote.
“However, in view of the timetable it will take to comply, we intend to request for an extension from the SEC to allow the company to file the amended tender offer report at a later time,” it added.
To recall, the SEC ordered the discontinuation of the tender offer of PCPPI shares in February because of supposed issues in the conduct of valuation and fairness opinion of PCPPI shares.
Lotte Chilsung is buying up to 2.13 billion shares in PCPPI, equivalent to 57.78% of the company’s outstanding capital stock as of end-September, as part of a strategy to raise its economic interest in PCPPI. Lotte Chilsung is offering to buy the shares from shareholders at P1.95 each.
The transaction has been approved by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) last month. The approval of the PCC and the SEC are required for such transactions.
Lotte Chilsung is based in Seoul and is in the business of manufacturing soft drinks, food and other beverages. It has a controlling stake in PCPPI, the licensed bottler of PepsiCo, Inc. and Pepsi Lipton International Ltd. in the Philippines.
PCPPI handles brands such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7-Up, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, Tropicana, Lipton, Sting, Premier, Milkis and Aquafina.
In a separate statement on Monday, PepsiCo said it donated $500,000 (about P25.4 million) to join other top business groups in raising more than $30 million (about P1.6 billion) to help vulnerable communities amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Shares in PCPPI at the stock exchange inched up three centavos or 1.69% to P1.81 each on Monday.
