East Coast Vulcan Corp., owned by Mayor Hilario Pagauitan of Sta. Maria town in Isabela, said Thursday it is looking to privately place a total 736 million shares to raise the public float of the nickel miner above the 20 percent minimum required and lift the trading suspension on its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Prior to the 2021 takeover of the HGP Group, a company controlled by Mayor Pagauitan and his wife Sofia, public ownership in Vulcan Industrial stood at 40.37 percent. Its main shareholder then was National Book Store Inc. Public float has fallen to 14.47 percent after the HGP Group’s entry.
EAVC said Mayor Pagauitan and his wife Sofia have agreed to sell 486 million shares previously held by National Book Store to an unrelated third party by next month to help lift the public float. The share block represents a 7.33 percent stake in EAVC.
To ensure compliance with the public float, EAVC set aside 550 million new shares. Only between 100 million and 250 million shares from this block will be sold to other investors, pushing public ownership to as much as 24.64 percent.
Vulcan Industrial had already exited from mining until the HGP Group offered a backdoor listing deal that would give the listed company the group’s profitable nickel mining in Dinagat Island.
East Coast earns royalties and marketing fees from operating agreements with contractors. In 2021 and 2022, it reported revenue totaling P736.5 million and P612.4 million, respectively. Net income aggregated P503.6 million in 2021 and P363.7 million in 2022.
EAVC has until November 30 this year to comply with the minimum public float requirement after which it may be removed from the PSE roster of listed companies.
