Third-party subscribers take 13.55% of DITO CME’s shares

TWO unrelated third-party subscribers to shares in DITO CME Holdings Corp. have cornered as much as 13.55% of businessman Dennis A. Uy’s listed holding firm.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, DITO CME said one of the subscribers, Xterra Ventures Pte. Ltd., makes up 3.76% or 610 million of the firm’s 16.235 billion issued and outstanding common shares.

The subscribed shares via private placement were issued out of the company’s unissued authorized capital stock.

Before the share issuance to Xterra Ventures, DITO CME issued 1.59 billion new shares to Summit Telco Corp. Pte. Ltd., bringing the listed firm’s outstanding shares to 15.625 billion.

Summit Telco now accounts for around 9.79% of DITO CME’s outstanding shares, with Udenna Corp. remaining the biggest shareholder with a 68.98% stake, lower than its previous 71.68% before the entry of the new investors.

The identity of the third-party subscribers was disclosed by DITO CME on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the company responded to a query from the Philippine Stock Exchange for more information on the transaction.

DITO CME said the issue price was set at P1.00 par value considering that the book value per share of the company was a negative P2.21 as of the latest quarterly financial report on June 30, 2023, and since it cannot issue new shares below par value of P1.00.

The company finished the second quarter with an attributable net loss of P1.1 billion, which was more than four times lower than the P6.63 billion recorded a year ago.

It described Xterra Ventures as a Singapore-based entity with an investment fund engaged in investment activities in the Asia-Pacific region. No additional information was given about Summit Telco.

DITO CME said the net proceeds of the transaction are to be fully invested in its operating subsidiary, DITO Telecommunity Corp.

It said the investment is “in compliance with the capital contribution commitments of DITO to be used to support its operations for the roll-out of its telecommunications business, further improving quality of access and user experience as well as accelerating the take up of its FWA (fixed wireless access) 5G and mobile postpaid product offerings.”

DITO Telecommunity is considered the third dominant telecommunications company in the Philippines.

DITO CME said the payment for the subscription of the shares had been fully paid.

The transaction also brought the company’s public float to 30.94% of its shares from 20.11%, while raising its foreign ownership level to 15.18% from 1.88% previously.

On Wednesday, shares in DITO CME jumped 2.7% or six centavos to close at P2.28 each. — VVS