Philippines-based gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corporation is aiming to raise at least P6 billion (US$128.6 million) through a private placement of shares, which will be used for its expansion program.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Philweb said it has secured the nod of the stockholders for its proposal to make a private placement of up to 300 million shares at a discount to the market, but in no case less than P20 ($0.43) per share.
The 300 million shares are equivalent to a stake of nearly 20% in the company. The current market price of PhilWeb shares as of Wednesday’s close is P23.90 ($0.51) per share.
Philweb, which is led by former Philippine trade secretary Roberto Ongpin, quickly pointed out that the company’ board or executive committee will be the one who will determine the actual price and payment terms.
“The private placement will result in PhilWeb receiving cash and receivables of at least P6 billion. With this war chest, the company will have the ability to go on an aggressive expansion program,” PhilWeb said.
According to PhilWeb, the shares to be sold at the private placement are part of the 354.6 million shares currently in treasury which PhilWeb bought from telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) in 2013 at an average price of P11.90 ($0.26) or a total value of P4.2 billion ($90.19 million).
“Thus the total value of these treasury shares is more than P8.4 billion ($180.39 million) or double the acquisition cost of PhilWeb from PLDT,” PhilWeb said.
PhilWeb primarily operates e-Games stations, which are Internet cafes exclusively dedicated to casino games.
Last April, Philweb announced that its first quarter revenue for 2016 rose by 1.48 percent to P212.96 million ($4.57 million) compared to the P209.96 million ($4.51 million) in the same quarter of last year.
