TRAVELLER’S International Hotel Group, Inc. (TIHGI) has secured approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) to delist its shares from the stock market.

In a memorandum on Monday, the operator of the local bourse said its board of directors had approved in a meeting last week the petition of TIHGI for voluntary delisting.

“Subject to the payment of the required voluntary delisting fee, the Company’s shares shall no longer be tradable effective October 21, 2019, Monday,” the PSE memorandum said.

TIHGI is the developer and operator of Resorts World Manila, which runs a gaming facility with hotel, retail, dining, entertainment and other leisure amenities in Pasay City.

The company is a joint venture of tycoon Andrew L. Tan’s Alliance Global Group, Inc. and Genting Hong Kong Ltd.

When TIHGI announced its delisting plan to the stock exchange in August, it said the intention was to “allow the Company to timely address evolving market demands and rapidly changing customer needs without compromising its business strategies to competition.”

It conducted a tender offer that ended on Sept. 30 for 1.32 billion common shares with an offer price of P5.50. The resulting public float is less than 2%. A total of 261.81 million common shares which are part of the existing public float were not tendered.

The PSE requires that the minimum ownership of the bidder after the tender offer for a voluntary delisting be at 95%.

TIHGI began trading on the local bourse in November 2013 and started its voluntary trading suspension on Sept. 30, when it closed at P5.42 apiece.

In the first semester, the company slashed its attributable net income to P844.71 million, despite a 50% growth in gross revenues to P16.57 billion, as borrowing costs increased during the period. — Denise A. Valdez

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