PAL to use Baguio Gold for backdoor listing

The plan has been set in motion. Flag carrier Philippine Airlines will soon test the equities market as it prepares to list at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) via the backdoor route, using Baguio Gold Holdings Corp. as the corporate vehicle.

In a disclosure to the PSE, Baguio Gold corporate secretary Ma. Cecilia Pesayco said the company will be issuing new shares in exchange for the acquisition of about 90 percent of the outstanding capital stock of PAL. Both Baguio Gold and PAL are controlled by liquor and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan.

Pesayco said in line with the planned listing, Baguio Gold has started restructuring since the buy-in of the Tan group was finalized last week. That was when Tan bought out the entire capital stock of Trustmark Holdings Corp., which owns 69 percent of Baguio Gold’s outstanding capital, at its equivalent book value of only P25 million.

"As a holding company, the group of Mr. Tan plans to look for investments in marketable equity securities, or private placements," she said.

With the buy-in, the board of Baguio Gold was overhauled to install Tan as chairman and president, replacing Macazio’s Te. Other new faces brought in by Tan were Mariano Tanenglian, Harry Tan and Jaime Bautista, the former chief financial officer of PAL.

Baguio Gold, the third publicly-listed company acquired by Tan after Asia Pacific Equity Corp. (new Tanduay Holdings) and Air Philippines International Corp. (formerly Forum Pacific), will likewise be beefing up its capital base from P400 million to P5 billion.– Conrado Diaz Jr.