MCO (Philippines) Investments Limited, the controlling shareholder of Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp (MRP), has announced that it will defer its public tender offer for up to 1.57 billion publicly-owned and other MRP common shares.
The tender offer was originally scheduled to start from Wednesday 3 October and run though until 30 October, but MCO revealed on Tuesday that the offer will now be delayed for around two weeks “or until such time as it otherwise determines.”
MCO holds 3.95 billion shares in MRP representing a 72.77% stake in the company.
MRP had previously announced an offer price of Php7.25 per share but has not given any information on whether or not this price will remain unchanged. If fully executed at the original offer price, the tender will cost Melco Resorts around Php11.2 billion (US$208 million).
Brokerage Sanford C Bernstein stated in a recent note that the transaction should be viewed favorably “as it will reduce some of the complexity in Melco by eliminating a publicly traded affiliate with limited liquidity and allow Melco more flexibility in further growing the Philippines business.”
