Travellers sets tender offer price of P5.50 as part of delisting

MANILA, Philippines — Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. (TIHGI), owner and operator of Resorts World Manila (RWM), has set a tender offer price of P5.50 per share as part of its plan to delist from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

TIHGI, a joint venture partnership between Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong Ltd., is expected to file its tender offer report with the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission today.

The listed firm said it would delist from the PSE roster of listed firms to allow the company to “timely address evolving market demands and rapidly changing customer needs without compromising its business strategies to competition.”

The privatization plan is in line with its goal to be more competitive and responsive in the gruelling and highly competitive leisure resorts hotels and casino sector where the introduction of market innovations are hampered by the disclosure requirements for publicly listed firms.

TIHGI is offering to buy up to 1.6 billion common shares held collectively by all shareholders of the company other than the Alliance Global Group Inc., Megaworld Corp., First Centro Inc., Adams Properties Inc., Star Cruises Philippines Holdings B.V., Asian Travellers Ltd., Premium Travellers Ltd. and the members of the board of directors with respect to their qualifying common shares.

The company engaged the services of PricewaterhouseCooper to determine a fair valuation and the multinational consulting firm, arrived at a valuation range of P5 to P5.80.

The P5.50 is at the higher end of the price range, and a premium to the volume weighted average of P5.46 in the past three months and P5.49 in the last six months.

Some stock analysts also see the current share price as over-valued, meaning that the P5.50 tender offer price already offers a premium over the share’s true value. For instance, Nomura Securities as last week valued TIGHI at P4.20, while COL targeted the price at P3.44 per share.