The tender offer for shares in Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited will raise MCO (Philippines) Investments Limited’s stake in the company to 96.1%.
This will put ownership of Melco Philippines below the 10% minimum public ownership (MPO) requirement under Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) rules.
In Melco Philippines’ filing on the matter, it did not specify its plans once transactions from the tender offer are finalized, involving 1,338,477,668 out of 1,569,786,768 publicly-held shares transferred to MCO. However, all this appears to be according to the company’s plans to no longer be publicly traded in the Philippines, where it operates City of Dreams Manila.
“[Melco Philippines] will issue another disclosure when its public float falls below the MPO Requirement after the Tendered Shares are crossed at the PSE” on December 10, the company said.
Melco Philippines had filed its petition to delist from the PSE back in September, but encountered resistance from some traders who had regarded the tender offer price of about $0.138 as low in comparison to when the stock was introduced in 2013 for about $0.26. This led to MRP announcing it would no longer pursue delisting, even as the tender offer eventually pushed through at the end of October, concluding on November 29.
Parent company Melco International Development Limited had earlier said that Melco Philippines’ “listed status in recent years has not contributed to its ability to raise funds despite considerable efforts and expenses being incurred to maintain its listed status.”
Last week, Melco Philippines announced plans to redeem PHP2 billion ($38.2 million) worth of 5% fixed-rate corporate secured notes issued by subsidiary Melco Resorts Leisure (PHP) Corporation back in 2014 and maturing January 24, 2019. The redemption will be completed by December 28.
Hong Kong-listed Melco Resorts and Entertainment, of which Melco Philippines is a subsidiary, reported revenue of $1.22 billion, 11% lower year on year. City of Dreams Manila contributed $141.7 million, 4.4% lower than its revenue in the same period last year.
