Monday, March 06, 2006

Universal Robina to sell stake in Robinsons Land

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Universal Robina to sell stake in Robinsons Land
Posted: 4:14 AM | Feb. 25, 2006

Inquirer

ENCOURAGED by the success of its recent public stock offering, food and beverage company Universal Robina Corp. plans to sell its stake in its sister property company Robinsons Land Corp. to allow it to focus on its growing core business, said Lance Gokongwei, president of both companies.

The sale would jibe with Robinsons Land's plan to increase its shares available to stock market investors, Gokongwei said.

Universal Robina holds 19 percent of Robinsons Land.

Earlier this month it raised P10.8 billion by selling 730 million newly issued and old shares at P17 each.

Another 95 million shares were subsequently made available to investors after the initial issue was oversubscribed.

Gokongwei said the sale of the Universal Robina stake in Robinsons Land would be done "in the next 12 months."

"But there's no firm date yet," he said.

The proceeds would be used to retire Universal Robina's longer-term bonds, after it paid off short-term debts with proceeds of its share sale earlier this month.

Gokongwei earlier said the company would also increase its free float to 40 percent from seven percent at present as part of a broader plan among the Gokongwei companies to raise their profile among institutional investors. Daxim L. Lucas, with INQ7.net

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