Lepanto reduces SRO price

MANILA, Philippines — Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. has reduced the price, but raised the number of shares for its planned stock rights offering (SRO).

Proceeds from the SRO will be used to fund exploration drilling for gold and copper deposits and for debt management.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Lepanto said its board of directors approved to lower the price of its SRO from P0.14 per share to P0.12 apiece.

The board also approved to increase the number of shares to be offered from 14.430 billion shares to 16.804 billion shares, with shareholders entitled to subscribe to one share of common stock for every 3.95 shares held.

The changes in the SRO will still allow Lepanto to raise over P2 billion — from P2.02 billion to P2.016 billion.

Lepanto said the “SRO price and other details have been changed in consideration of the present market condition.”

The SRO application has not yet been filed with regulators.

Lepanto said the offer shares would come from and support the increase in the company’s authorized capital stock from P6.64 billion to P9 billion, which was approved by its board in February.

In its latest definitive report, Lepanto said it is focusing on gold ore production from its Victoria and Teresa deposits in Benguet.

“Exploration drilling is concentrated on targeting extensions of the said deposits. Meantime, the mill plant and CIP are undergoing rehabilitation to improve gold and silver recoveries and increase throughput,” the company said.

In the first half of the year, Lepanto incurred a higher net loss amounting to P301.3 million compared to  P163.3 million.

Consolidated revenues rrose to P816.7 million from P797.1 million.

Lepanto said gold price has been declining, which is partially offset by the weakening of the peso vis-a-vis the US dollar.