Alliance Select gets shareholder OK for equity restructuring

ALLIANCE Select Foods International, Inc. secured the go signal from shareholders to undergo an equity restructuring program in line with its turnaround strategy.

In a special meeting, about three-fourths of Alliance Select’s shareholders cleared the management’s plan to reduce the par value of its shares to P0.50 from P1.00 which will eliminate the company’s deficit, subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the seafood company said in a disclosure on Friday.

Equity restructuring is common for companies that clean up their balance sheets. The company said the program will put it in a position to declare dividends.

The company has been reporting losses since 2012. In the first half, the company more than doubled earnings, aided by a 10% increase in revenues.

Alliance Select has seen its Filipino shareholders and their Singaporean counterparts figuring in a boardroom tussle since 2014, with the latter accusing the controlling local group of mismanagement and siphoning off company funds.

Alliance Select is a homegrown international seafood company whose products are distributed in various foreign markets including Europe, the US, Japan, and the Middle East.

Shares in Alliance Select added a centavo or 1.23% to end at 82 centavos each on Friday. – Krista Angela M. Montealegre