The Philippine Stock Exchange halted for an hour on Wednesday the trading on AREIT Inc. after a prior disclosure by the listed real estate investment trust of the Ayala Group regarding the issuance of new shares to property giant Ayala Land Inc. and two subsidiaries for offices and malls.
The PSE said the trading halt was imposed to allow trading participants and investors to digest the implications of AREIT’s disclosure.
AREIT will issue 607.6 million primary shares to Ayala Land and its units Ayalaland Malls Inc. and Northbeacon Commercial Corp. in exchange for flagship offices and malls with a total value of P22.5 billion as validated by a third-party appraiser.
The proposed property-for-share swap still needs approval of AREIT shareholders at the annual meeting on April 26 and relevant regulators.
The PSE said its listing rules require that the company stockholders must approve the transaction. And in the case of related party transactions, the PSE said that as a general rule, it shall not permit the listing of shares subscribed by related parties unless a rights or public offering is first undertaken. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, it noted.
