First Holdings approves P6-billion buyback program

The board of directors of Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings Corp. has approved a P6-billion share buyback program. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Thursday, the company said that the program would be implemented over two years from July 12 to July 11, 2012. "The program will not involve active and widespread solicitation from stockholders in general. It is not expected to adversely affect the company's current projects nor its future prospects," the company said. "The program is intended to strike a balance between enhancing the company’s capital structure and maintaining the ability to fund future growth and investments. Buyback transactions will be triggered if the company stock is substantially undervalued, when there is high volatility in share prices or in any instance where a buyback should serve to improve shareholder value," it added. The company, also known as First Holdings, has sufficient cash to implement the buyback particularly from the sale of its 6.6 percent interest in Manila Electric Co. to the First Pacific Group's Beacon Electric Asset Holdings for P23.6 billion. After the sale, First Holdings posted P24.6 billion in net profit during the first quarter. —With MR Gavin/VS, GMANews.TV