First Holdings to subscribe to First Gen preferred shares

Manila Times.net

FIRST Philippine Holdings Corp. has obtained board approval to subscribe to the preferred share offering of First Gen Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Holdings said it would subscribe to as much as P6 billion of First Gen’s cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible, Series F perpetual preferred share issuance.

First Holdings owns 66.25 percent of First Gen.

Earlier, First Gen said it would raise P7 billion worth of perpetual preferred shares in the second half of the year to retire maturing obligations in the near term.

The company has maturing debts worth P5 billion in 2012 and another $130 million by 2013.

In January 2010, First Gen capitalized on the highly liquid market, raising fresh equity of P15 billion through a rights offering to prepay some of its short-term debts.

As a result, the company’s consolidated interest-bearing debt decreased by 11 percent or $130 million from $1.13 billion in 2009 to $1 billion in 2010.

First Holdings expects earnings to fall by a third this year because of the absence of one-time gains , the rehabilitation of its geothermal plants and the shutdown of its pipes.

First Holdings’ shares rose to P60.90 on Thursday from P60.85 each on Wednesday.

Krista Angela M. Montealegre