Vulcan to raise P860 million via stock rights offering

MANILA, Philippines - Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp., controlled by a group led by businessman Alfredo C. Ramos, is raising around P860.4 million through a stock rights offering to fund its various mining projects and pay down debt.

The company last week obtained the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nod to issue 888.41 million common shares to stockholders at a ratio of up to three new shares for every two shares held as of a record date yet to determined.

The shares, coming from an increase in its authorized capital stock fro P600 million to P1.5 billion, will be sold at P1 each share, of which P0.40 shall be payable upon subscription and the balance of P0.60 payable in two tranches of P0.30 each.

The first P0.30 is payable within one year after subscription and the second P0.30 is payable within two years after initial subscription. Entitled shareholders may also choose to pay the amount of their subscriptions in full.

The bulk of proceeds or P474.15 million will go to mining projects in Isabela, Southern Leyte, Nueva vizcaya, and Bataan.

Around P216 million will be used to pay shareholders’ advances while P105 million will be used to retire debt owed to Metrobank (P54.98 million), AB Capital (P50 million), Abacus Book and Card Corp. (P10.92 million).

AB Capital & Investment Corp. has been tapped as lead underwriter for the rights issue.

Vulcan explores and acquires land positions in close proximity to former major mining operations and/or properties with known deposits for development.

The company has also been active in oil exploration projects since 1976 and is currently part of two consortiums that have petroleum contracts. It owns approximately 16.6 billion shares of Philodrill, a listed company that has diversified investments in oil exploration and production, property development, mining and financial services.