By Arra B. Francia, Reporter

SHAREHOLDERS of Calata Corp. are planning to consolidate their voting rights to bring in new management that will take control of the company, in a bid to stop its delisting from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Minority shareholders, who together own about 70% of the company, is asking the PSE to postpone its decision on Calata’s delisting until such all shareholders are called into a meeting to discuss a “win-win” solution for all.

“If the PSE postpones their decision on this delisting, give the minority time to have a shareholders’ meeting to elect a new board and make their decision afterwards, nothing is lost,” Austrian trader Alfred Reiterer, who represents some minority shareholders of Calata, told reporters in a press conference last Friday.

“If there is an election, and a new reliable board is elected, and maybe new foreign investors coming in, they should allow the company to stay listed,” he added.

Mr. Reiterer cited George H. Tan, who was previously part of the board of directors of listed firm PhilWeb Corp. as a candidate for Calata’s board. So far, he noted their group has consolidated around 14% of voting rights, which is enough to elect one director into the board.

Mr. Tan is also currently one of the minority shareholders of Calata. Trading of Calata shares have been suspended since June 30 due to multiple violations of disclosure rules.

Asked why he is willing to be part of the company’s board, Mr. Tan noted that despite the delisting procedures, Calata remains to be a profitable business, given the current administration’s support for the agriculture sector.

“Given the existing businesses, we can grow them. There’s a lot of opportunity available still in the Philippines because his network of stores are just present in Luzon, so Visayas and Mindanao is pretty much open. And if you’re selling fertilizers and seeds, this is a basic trading business, so there’s guaranteed margins,” Mr. Tan said.

Some of the shareholders will also reject Calata’s proposed backup plan to list their shares in the cryptocurrency exchange.

Calata Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph H. Calata has previously said they are planning to list the company’s shares in the cryptocurrency exchange, where they will be dubbed as CalCoins and be traded along the likes of other virtual currencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and ripple.

“(From our group), I have not seen anybody who supports CalCoins. We will vote against that, if it is included in the stockholders’ meeting agenda,” Mr. Tan said.

“There are only two solutions for this. Either he find(s) an investor who is willing to buy the shares of the minority, or we will find an investor who can buy all his shares,” Mr. Reiterer said.

Mr. Reiterer further noted the company’s retained earnings plus the value of shares that Mr. Calata holds would be enough to immediately buy back the shares of the minority.

“Retained earnings as of June 30, 2017 is P499 million, let’s say P500 million. Joseph Calata subscribed to 125 million shares at P2, so P500 million plus another P250 million is P750 million in the corporate records, which are available to buy back the shares of the minority,” Mr. Reiterer said.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR