Friday, January 16, 2009 Suspension of Meralco stock trading may be lifted
THE trade suspension imposed against the more than 1.1 billion shares of power retailer Manila Electric Company (Meralco) may be lifted on Friday.
Francis Lim, president and CEO of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), said the members of the board of the exchange are now working things out to hopefully lift the Meralco suspension.
"For the traded and settled shares, we have decided not to touch it anymore. That's 3.4 million shares," said Lim in a press briefing Thursday.
But he admitted that they are now in a dilemma on what actions should be taken on the "unsettled" shares.
"There is still an unsettled 2.3 million shares. The issue there is should we cancel that. I think the board does not want to cancel it, otherwise there will be no stability. So the question is with the board decision not to cancel the unsettled trade, how do we proceed since there is a TRO (temporary restraining order) prohibiting use of Lubrica shares," he added.
Lim said they are trying to move with the resumption of Meralco trading without violating the TRO.
"What we are trying to do is resume the trading without violating the TRO. Once you cancel it, it will affect investor confidence... (But) Where do you get the shares to settle the shares? And that's one thing we have to discuss with the broker that we have identified trades," explained Lim.
The Exchange last month suspended indefinitely the trading of Meralco shares following the controversies involving the cancellation of stock certificates of Land Bank of the Philippines, which was transferred to Josefina Lubrica based on an order from the Department of Agrarian Reform-Office of the Regional Adjudicator Region IV.
The Meralco shares of stocks transferred to Lubrica totaled 42,002,750. The stock certificates were numbered 87265, 664638, 707447, and 707448.
Meralco, through its corporate secretary Emmanuel Sison, earlier wrote the PSE asking for the lifting of the trading suspension as it has affected the 1.1 billion Meralco shares considering the fact that the involve shares are only 42.2 million.
Earlier, Lim said that since the imposition of the trading suspension last December 17, 2008, the PSE, together with the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC) and its 132 operating brokers, has buckled down to work and has undertaken measures to effectively isolate and segregate the disputed shares from the rest of the Meralco shares to maintain the purity of stock market transactions.
Likewise, Lim refuted accusations that they are favoring shareholders when it imposed the suspension last month.
"We in the PSE vehemently deny allegations that the Board's decision on the Meralco issue was done in favor of one shareholder. We find this accusation unwarranted and unfair because first of all, the public should understand that the Board adopted this hard decision in utmost good faith with the sole intention of protecting the interest of the investing public," he said. (MSN/Sunnex)
