DISCOVERY World Corp. (DWC) is expanding its resort business further with the subscription to more shares in a property owner in Boracay.
The listed firm told the stock exchange yesterday it is investing a total of P90 million to increase its stake in wholly owned subsidiary Balay Holdings, Inc. The company currently owns 800,000 shares in the unit.
“In today’s meeting, the board resolved to increase the said subscription by 34.2 million shares bringing the total amount to 90 million shares…,” it said.
The shares are priced at P1 each, equivalent to a total P90-million investment which will be used by the company as working capital.
“This acquisition is in line with DWC’s business and will create opportunities for expansion of the corporation’s resort business,” it said.
DWC first announced its acquisition of shares in Balay Holdings in 2018, when it said it was subscribing to 26.2 million shares in the firm. It eventually increased this by 28.8 million shares in December last year, bringing its total subscription up to 55 million shares.
The 34.2-million additional shares that DWC will be subscribing to is equivalent to 38% of Balay Holdings’ total outstanding shares. Balay Holdings must now submit a revised application to the Securities and Exchange Commission to increase its authorized capital stock to P100 million from P3.2 million.
“Balay Holdings is seen to own real properties in Boracay to be used as the staff house of the employees of the company,” DWC said.
DWC is a hotel and resort operator in the Philippines handling brands such as Discovery Shores Boracay, Discovery Shores, Platitos Resto-Bar, Sands Lounge, Indigo Resto-Bar, Sunken Pool Bar, Forno Osteria, Estate XI, 360 Roof Lounge, Terra Spa and Club Paradise.
It also owns transportation services businesses Palawan Cove Corp. and Discovery Fleet Corp. and has a majority stake in Palawan’s Cay Islands Corp. and Baguio’s Sonoran Corp. DWC’s Long Beach Property Holdings, Inc., which was formed in 2016, is currently looking to develop more properties in Palawan.
The company booked an attributable net loss of P10 million in the nine months to September 2019, down from P88.88 million in the same period in 2018, as revenues improved 83% to P732.04 million. — Denise A. Valdez
