Del Monte Pacific lists first PSE dollar-denominated securities

Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) on Friday listed the very first dollar- denominated securities on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Del Monte Pacific listed $200 million worth of Series A-1 Preference Shares from March 22 to 28.

"After much anticipation from the market, DMPL's preference shares were finally made available to the public on March 22, and performed quite well during its limited offering period at 33.3 percent oversubscription," the company said in a statement.

The company offered 15 million Series A-1 Preference Shares at an offer price of $10 per share, and tapped the provision for oversubscription to generate $200 million.

The dollar-denominated preference shares offer a dividend rate of 6.625 percent a year with low investment requirement of $1,000.

Del Monte Pacific tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Corp., PNB Capital & Investment Corp. and RCBC Capital Corp. as joint lead underwriters for the follow-on offer. BDO Capital was also the sole issue manager.

In December last year, the PSE adopted a framework for listing, trading, clearing and settlement of dollar-denominated securities.

It is the newest investment tool offered by the exchange, which allows listed companies to issue a new set of securities, either common or preferred shares, to be quoted, traded and settled in US dollars.

"The company was unfazed by the need for new rules, new trading platform and back-end infrastructure of brokerage firms and the learning curve that stakeholders need to go through to accept this new instrument," Del Monte noted.

The Board Lot Table for dollar-denominated securities trading was adjusted from its peso counterpart to make the minimum lot sizes more affordable to investors.

The table determines the minimum number of shares an investor may buy or sell at a specific price range. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News