PSE resumes trading in Picop shares

Trading in pulp and paper milling company Picop Resources Inc. (PRI) resumed yesterday after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) issued a certification extending the firm’s corporate life by 50 years retroactive to March 31, 2002.

In a circular, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Disclosure Department head Trisha Zamesa said the suspension in the trading of PRI which lasted for six days was lifted yesterday after the company submitted documents "confirming that (PRI’s) corporate existence subsists."

The PSE indefinitely suspended trading in PRI on Aug. 12 as the SEC said it had not yet granted an extension of the firm’s corporate life, which expired last March 31.

The delay in the SEC’s approval stemmed from the firm’s deficiency in the filing fee for the extension papers, assessed at P12 million, which PRI contested.

SEC commissioner Jesus Martinez said PRI "mistakenly" paid a mere P210 in the filing fee for its application which the SEC rejected, although PRI said it contested the amount on "Good faith and tenable legal ground."

Although PRI eventually paid the entire amount, it had requested for a reduction in the fee to P100,000 which the SEC denied.

SEC Chairperson Lilia Bautista said the commission en banc also reconsidered a prior opinion by Martinez which stated that the approval of Picop’s extended corporate existence does not…retroact to the expiration date of the original license.

Prior to the expiration of its 50-year corporate existence on March 31, PRI’s board and majority stockholders had approved and applied with the SEC for a 50-year extension on March 26.

Bautista noted the SEC’s issuance of the certificate of filing of amended articles had allowed the corporation to continue its existence under its original articles of incorporation, "consequently removing any break or hiatus from the expiry date to the approval of the amended articles of incorporation."

She added since all the requirements had been complied with, the approval of the extension should necessarily retroact from the date of the existence of the original life of PRI.

Despite the lifting of the suspension, the hardly-traded PRI stocks were unchanged from the last traded price of five and a half centavos each.

PRI operates its milling plant and wood plantation in Bislig, Surigao del Sur. Once Southeast Asia’s largest integrated wood and paper milling company, it was listed in 1973 and transformed into a holding firm in 1997 as it ventured into particle board manufacturing and palm oil plantation.

In 2000, PRI generated total revenues of P2.422 billion but remained in the red with a net loss of P215.352 million.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had raised the issue of the expiration of PRI’s corporate term to similarly reject the extension of its logging permit, citing that PRI still lacked any legal personality to transact business, enter into any agreements or acquire any government franchise or license.