The Philippine Stock Exchange said Friday it suspended the trading of SP New Energy Corp. and Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp. after their public float dropped below the 20-percent required minimum public ownership.
SPNEC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the increase in its authorized capital stock to P5 billion from P1 billion as part of the planned asset-for-share swap with parent Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.
The capital hike will enable SPNEC to acquire other solar projects owned by SPPHI and fund the expansion of its portfolio. In exchange, SPNEC will issue new shares to SPPHI, which will cause its public float to fall below 20 percent.
“In view of the above-mentioned issuance, the company’s public ownership level fell below the 20-percent prescribed minimum percentage,” the PSE said.
Under the PSE rules, listed companies which become non-compliant with the prescribed minimum public ownership “shall be suspended from trading for a period of not more than six months and shall be automatically delisted if it remains non-compliant with the MPO [minimum public ownership] after the lapse of the suspension period,” the PSE said.
SPNEC will have until December to comply with the public float requirement. Its share price closed at P1.46 on Thursday.
SPNEC, formerly Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., was incorporated and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 23, 2016 as a renewable energy power generation company.
It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc., which is part of the SP Group, an integrated developer, owner and operator of solar power projects.
Meanwhile, the PSE also suspended the trading of Vulcan Industrial after the SEC approved the increase in its authorized capital stock to P12 billion from P4 billion.
The capital hike enabled Vulcan to issue new shares to mining firm East Coast Mineral Resources Co. Inc. as part of the planned backdoor listing.
This, however, resulted in the drop in Vulcan’s public float to 14.54 percent from 40.37 percent.
Under the PSE’s backdoor listing rule, Vulcan is required have at least 20-percent public float from actual issuance or transfer of shares.
Vulcan earlier committed to undertaking an equity placement to comply with the required minimum public float. Formed in 1995, ECMRC has three mineral production sharing agreements in Dinagat Island. It earns royalties from operators of its MPSA.
The share price of Vulcan closed at P1.24 on Thursday.