MANILA, Philippines - Investors sold down shares of refining giant Petron Corp. yesterday, with its stock falling nearly 15 percent after the company said its employee retirement fund is selling 695.3 million common shares for P7.648 billion.
Petron dropped to as much as P11.26 prior to closing at P11.32 apiece yesterday or P1.98 lower than Tuesday’s close. A total of 94.21 million shares valued at P1.07 billion changed hands yesterday.
Based on the oil firm’s disclosure to the stock exchange, Petron Corp. Employees’ Retirement Plan (PCERP) will sell the shares at P11 apiece or a significant discount to Tuesday’s close of P13.30 each.
The sale will be crossed at the facilities of the stock exchange on Jan. 24.
Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered and UBS were named as joint bookrunners for the transaction.
PCERP is the second largest shareholder of Petron after SEA Refinery Corp., which holds 50.1 percent. Food-to-infrastructure conglomerate San Miguel Corp. owns 18.16 percent and controls SEA Refinery.
The fund bought the shares from SEA Refinery Holdings BV at P7.20 a share.
SEA Refinery Holdings used to be the parent of SEA Refinery Corp. until it sold its shares to the Petron fund and San Miguel.