HatchAsia Inc., the gaming services unit of DFNN Inc., said it plans to list its shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange by introduction.
HatchAsia said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission it would list 275.162 million registered shares under the main board of the PSE with an initial price of P5.28 per share. This would enable the company to raise P1.45 billion.
The listing price was based on valuation and fairness opinion issued by independent auditor Punongbayan & Araullo.
Listing by introduction allows a company to join the PSE without having to sell shares to the public immediately.
Under the PSE rules, a listing of securities by way of introduction may be appropriate when the securities of an unlisted issuer are distributed by way of property dividend by a listed issuer to shareholders.
HatchAsia, to qualify for listing by introduction, will distribute 8 million common shares as property dividends to stockholders of DFFN.
Under the plan, DFNN shareholders will receive one HatchAsia share for every 40.5775 DFNN shares owned.
Founded in 2000 by DFNN, HatchAsia was created as an incubation business for fledgling start-up companies. In 2014, DFNN and Visayan Gaming Inc. signed an investment agreement to jointly engage in gaming-related business process management, outsourcing operations, and software development.
It diversified its business from being just a service provider into an electronic gaming outlet operator.
The company said it continued to diversify and search for opportunities in other segments such as payments processing and equipment distribution.
HatchAsia is 22.9-percent owned by DFNN, 21.8 percent by Kirk Arambulo and family and 14.7 percent by Visayan Gaming Inc. The balance of 45 percent is held by other small investors.
HatchAsia reported a net income of P8.9 million in the first quarter, down 20 percent from P11.2 million a year ago, as revenues rose one percent to P68.4 million.
