National Book Store scraps backdoor listing via Vulcan Industrial

National Book Store Inc. has scrapped the plan to list its businesses on the Philippine Stock Exchange via a backdoor by way of Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp.

This development has prompted Vulcan Industrial to ask the PSE for a one-hour trading halt on Wednesday.

"The Company has just disclosed its receipt of a letter from National Book Store (NBS) dated November 14, 2017 informing it that the NBS group will no longer pursue a backdoor listing of its retail assets," Vulcan Industrial said in a regulatory filing.

In 2013, Vulcan Industrial secured shareholder approval to change its corporate name to National Book Store Retail Corp., and subsequently change its primary purpose to retail trade from mining.

NBS then subscribed in 2014 to 850 million new Vulcan shares at P1 per share from the increase in authorized capital stock to P4 billion from P600 million. This brought the shareholdings of NBS in Vulcan to 68 percent.

"Despite NBS’s decision to no longer pursue the back door listing, its investment and subscription to shares in the Company shall remain unchanged," Vulcan said.

"As previously disclosed, Vulcan will revisit its strategy and continue to explore various ways to deliver value to our shareholders," it added.

Following the announcement, Vulcan requested for a one-hour trading halt from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 15, 2017.

"Vulcan requests for a one-hour trading halt to enable the investing public to digest this material information," it said.

As of 10:54 a.m. on Wednesday, shares of Vulcan were trading at P0.69 per share, down P0.210 or 23.33 percent from P0.90 on Tuesday.

Incorporated in 1953, Vulcan was primarily engaged in mining and oil exploration. It changed its primary purpose to retail trade in 2013, and relegated mining and oil exploration as secondary purposes.

As of December 31, 2016, the company had not been operating.

The company retired all of its employees in the first semester of 2013, due to reorganization and the intended listing of NBS. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News