MANILA – The plan of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) to exit from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) does not reflect domestic market uncertainties, according to BDO Securities Corp. first vice president and chief operating officer Bernhard Aloysius Tsai on Thursday.
In an interview, Tsai said the announcement of the conglomerate’s plan to go private is not really affecting the market, as the local bourse opened flat Thursday.
Few hours before trading closes, the PSE index (PSEi) was gaining by 43.44 points to 6,583.68 level.
“Any potential negative effects will likely be short term in nature,” he said.
The MPIC disclosed to the PSE that its board unanimously approved the voluntary delisting of the company.
A consortium --composed of Mitsui & Co.; JOIN, a Japanese state-owned company investing in infrastructure; MPIC major shareholders Metro Pacific Holdings and GT Capital Holdings; and MIG Holdings, a company owned by MPIC chair Manny V. Pangilinan— offered shareholders to buy their shares at PHP4.63 apiece.
"The normal expectation is that the market may be in the red. However, in this case, the news about this delisting has already reached the market across sometime early 2023. Hence, the market in general already priced in this possibility," Tsai told the Philippine News Agency in an e-mail.
Moreover, BDO Securities vice president and head of retail sales Boom Bondoc said the company is delisting not because of poor performance.
“The delisting happened not because something wrong happened or they have problems with their earnings, that’s not the case. From a retail side, from a retail investor, if you look at the options in the market, earnings are improving. It’s just that the company was struggling, not in terms of performance, but in terms of valuation,” Bondoc said.
BDO Securities expects the PSEi to end 2023 at 7,500 level as inflation rate eases and interest rates continue to stabilize. (PNA)
