Mining holding firm Oriental Peninsula Resources Group will mark today its debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) following a successful initial public offering (IPO) last week which raised around P804 million in new capital.
The first mining company to list in the local bourse in 24 years, Oriental Peninsula issued a total of 300 million shares to the public at P2.68 per share. Proceeds from the offering will be used by the firm to fund ongoing site development, initial large-scale operation and exploration of its mineral property.
The offer shares represent 20.67 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding capital stock of 1.45 billion shares.
Oriental Peninsula is 35 percent owned by Golden Spin Realty Inc. while Citimax Group Inc. holds 12.93 percent stake.
About P246.75 million of the total proceeds will go to acquisition of capital equipment and machineries while P100 million will be used as pre-operating capital. Another P78 million will be used for infrastructure development while P58 million will cover civil structure costs.
Oriental Peninsula’s offering closed last Friday, nearly two times oversubscribed, attracting mostly small investors with an allocation of 5,000 shares each.
Oriental Peninsula is the first mining company to list after the PSE, together with other government agencies, came out with the Philippine Mineral Reporting Code (PMRC).
Patterned after Australia’s Joint Ore Reserve Committee, PMRC sets out minimum standards for mining companies who must adhere to the principles of transparency, materiality and competence.
“Oriental Peninsula is transparent. We would like the investing public to see what we have to offer: Oriental Peninsula’s competence, capabilities and expertise as a mining company, and the high quality of its proven ore reserves,” said Oriental Peninsula director Ferdinand Pallera.
Oriental Peninsula was incorporated on April 16, 2007 as a holding company intended primarily to consolidate and operate companies that own mining tenements located within the Philippines.
The company, through subsidiary Citinickel Mines and Development Corp., owns two nickel mining projects in southern Palawan, namely Toronto Mine and Pulot Mine which are both covered by an approved mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) with the government.
Citinickel took over the application for the MPSA from Olympic Mines on June 9, 2006. It obtained the MPSA solely on its merits and in competition with several other applicants.
The MPSA gives Citinickel the exclusive right to conduct exploration activities within the contract area over a period of 25 years from Jan. 3, 2007 or the date when it became effective.