San Miguel shareholder Top Frontier falls 50 % on market debut

Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc., the controlling shareholder of San Miguel Corp., fell as much as 54 percent in its market debut on Monday, which followed San Miguel's near pull-out from the company.

 

Shares of Top Frontier were at P93 apiece in early trade, against an initial price of P178 per share based on valuation issued by independent adviser Punongbayan & Araullo.

 

Before this year, there was a cross-ownership between Top Frontier and San Miguel, with the investment firm holding 66.1 percent of the Philippines' most diversified conglomerate. San Miguel, on the other hand, owned 49 percent of Top Frontier's outstanding capital.

 

On Jan. 2, San Miguel distributed to its shareholders dividends of 240.2 million common shares in Top Frontier, with its holdings in the investment firm falling to under 1 percent after the transaction.

 

Top Frontier, valued at around $2 billion, debuted in the market without selling stock in an initial public offering, or via a listing by way of introduction. – Reuters