The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has authorised the issue of new voting shares in order to comply with foreign ownership limits in the Philippines.
The telco, which is listed on the Philippine stock exchange and the New York stock…
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has authorised the issue of new voting shares in order to comply with foreign ownership limits in the Philippines.
The telco, which is listed on the Philippine stock exchange and the New York stock exchange, has issued 150,000 shares to BTF Holdings, a subsidiary of the company’s employee beneficial trust fund.
In a filing made to the stock exchanges today, the company announced that final authorisation of the share issue had been signed.
The creation of the new shares was the result of a change in Philippine law last year which redefined the term ‘capital’ to include only shares with voting rights.
Current Philippine regulations stipulate that foreigners cannot own more than 40% of the capital of a public company, so under the new definition of capital, PLDT exceeded the limit.
A stock exchange filing made on Tuesday by PLDT said that the percentage of voting share capital held by non-Philippine nationals would be reduced to 34.5% from 58.4% following the issue.
