Maybank ATR completes share sale

MANILA, Philippines - Maybank ATR Kim Eng Holdings Ltd. (MKEH) has sold shares to a Hong Kong-based company and a British firm as part of its effort to comply with the 10 percent minimum public ownership (MPO) rule imposed by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

In a disclosure to the PSE, MKEH said it has sold 50 million issued and outstanding common shares in Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. (MATRKE Financial) to Hong Kong-based Wah Hong Investment Ltd.

MKEH said another 50 million MATRKE Financial shares were also sold to Lotus Asset Management (BVI) Ltd., a British Virgin Island-registered firm.

The shares were sold at P4.38 each, equivalent to the price MKEH paid to the stockholders of MATRKE Financial in the mandatory tender offer which closed on Nov. 29, 2011.

“Together, the 100 million shares sold by MKEH represent approximately 9.36 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of MATRKE Financial,” it told the PSE.

MKEH director and executive vice president Renato Leveriza Jr. said with the crossing of the 100 million shares through the facilities of the PSE, and considering that 0.89 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding common shares were already owned by the public, its MPO level is now approximately 10.25 percent.

“Consequently, MATRKE Financial is now in full compliance with the PSE’s MPO requirement,” Leveriza said.

MATRKE Financial is part of the Maybank group of Malaysia. It is a diversified financial services company with operating subsidiaries in capital markets,insurance and real estate,

The PSE said 12 firms remain non-compliant with the MPO rule, from the 25 companies that were on its list released on Dec. 7.

Erring firms were given up to Dec. 31, 2012 to comply with the rule or face a six-month trading suspension beginning on the first trading day of the new year.

If after June 30, 2013, a listed company remains non-compliant, the listed company’s shares shall be delisted.