THE BOARD of publicly listed Coal Asia Holdings, Inc. has approved a proposal to lower the par value of its shares to improve liquidity and entice more investors.

The board on May 23 approved the cut to 10 centavos from P1 based on its articles of incorporation, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

Par value or the face value of a stock does not fluctuate unlike its market value.

“The proposed amendment to Article 7 shall reflect the decrease in the par value of shares of stock from P1 to P0.10 to improve the liquidity in the trading of the corporation’s shares, as well as boost investor interest in and wider distribution of the corporation’s shares of capital stock thereby shoring up its marketability,” Coal Asia said.

It said the proposal to lower the par value of its shares would be submitted for stockholders’ approval during its annual stockholders’ meeting on July 1.

“The foregoing amendments are subject to the approval of the shareholders and further approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the application for the amendment of Coal Asia’s articles of incorporation,” it said.

Coal Asia is a holding company that acquires companies specializing in the exploration, development and mining of coal and other energy-related businesses in the Philippines and around Asia.

It owns Titan Mining and Energy Corp., which has 13,000 hectares of coal resources in Davao Oriental and Zamboanga Sibugay.

Coal Asia stocks were unchanged at 20 centavos each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave