Melco International Development subsidiary MCO (Philippines) Investments Limited has significantly increased its stake in Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) – the owner and operator of City of Dreams Manila – to more than 96% following completion of a tender offer to shareholders.
In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Melco revealed 1,338,477,668 of the 1,569,786,768 common shares in MRP held by the public had been tendered during the tender offer period and subsequntly accepted by MCO.
Following crossing of the shares, which is expected to be completed on 10 December 2018, MCO’s stake will jump from 72.54% to 96.1% comprising 5,462,758,232 common shares in MRP. The remaining 3.9% of common shares are held by other shareholders.
The company had originally planned its tender offer as a means of delisting from the Philippine Stock Exchange but was forced to reverse that decision in October due to a series of investor concerns. It said at the time that the tender offer would proceed instead for the purpose of increasing the shareholding of MCO in the company.
“The change of purpose for the tender offer, which led to the withdrawal of the petition to delist by MRP on 19 October 2018, is aimed at alleviating certain investors’ concerns that the potential delisting may exert undue pressure on their decision process related to the acceptance of the tender offer,” MRP stated. Shares were offered at a tender price of Php7.25 per share.
The company said it will issue another disclosure once its public float falls below the 10% MPO requirement under Philippine Stock Exchange rules after shares are crossed.
