Liquor producer Emperador Inc. said Tuesday it widened its public float to 20.1 percent from 15.1 percent at the end of August 2022.
Emperador said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the increase in public float reflects the robust investor demand for the company’s stock and should result in improved liquidity of the shares.
“This welcome development comes at a time when EMI shares have seen greater demand as a result of its dual listing on the Singapore Exchange,” it said.
Based on the filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, the public now owns 3.163 billion out of the 16.242 billion listed common shares of Emperador.
Alliance Global Group Inc., the parent company of Emperador, has also been disposing shares in the liquor firm as its ownership in the company dipped to 79.48 percent as of Dec. 20 from 83.87 as of end August.
AGI sold 220 million shares in Emperador in August and another 20.2 million shares in November. In the first 20 days of December, AGI also disposed another 670.41 million shares in Emperador at an average price of P18.98 to P19.34.
Emperador completed its secondary listing in the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited in July as part of its overall strategy expand its global presence and broaden access to international investment community.
Emperador is a leading global player with established presence in the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico and the Philippines. It has footprint in over 100 countries.
Its portfolio includes whisky brands such as The Dalmore and Jura, and it also sells brandy under the Fundador and Emperador brands.
The share price of Emperador rose 1.5 percent Tuesday to close at P20.50.