Platinum Group eyes backdoor listing

MANILA, Philippines - Nickel miner Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) is gearing up to enter the local bourse via the backdoor route.

In a disclosure, dormant listed firm Southeast Asia Cement Holdings Inc.(Seacem) said it implemented a one-day voluntary trading suspension “in anticipation of a disclosure of a material information/transaction.”

A source privy to the transaction said majority stockholders of Seacem have decided sell their shares to PGMC.

Hence, PGMC will join the local bourse through a backdoor listing, which occurs when a listed firm is acquired by or merges with a private company, resulting in a change in business and primary purpose of the listed entity. It is considered a cheaper and faster way to achieve listing status.

In June last year, stockholders of 8990 Housing Development Corp., one of the leading low-cost housing developers in Visayas and Mindanao, signed a deal to acquire Seacem for P2.57 billion.

Seacem stockholders Calumboyan Holdings Inc., Lafarge Philippines Holdings Philippines Inc. and Seacem Silos Inc. sold 89.87 percent of Seacem to IHoldings Inc., Januarius Resources Realty Corp. and Kwantlen Development Corp.

Seacem last year divested P11.35 billion worth of shares in listed cement maker Lafarge. Thus, it left Seacem with no assets and ready for a backdoor listing transaction.

For its part, PGMC has been operating a nickel mine in Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao Del Norte for the past six years.

PGMC said it posted a significant increase in nickel ore exports to 5.9 million metric tons (MT) in 2012 from 500,000 MT in 2007. It sells a range of low to high-grade nickel ore sourced from the 4,376-hectare Surigao del Norte tenement that has a measured and indicated ore of close to 65 million dry MT.

PGMC is also the company operating smelter plants in Iligan, Danao and Manticao. The miner said it needs an additional $27 million to upgrade its nickel smelting facilities.