No longer stationary: Trading resumes for paper maker
Trading of paper company Steniel Manufacturing Corp.’s shares will resume today, April 30, after 17 years of trying to regain financial health.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Monday said it resolved to lift the trading suspension after Steniel submitted “structured reportorial requirements.”
It likewise removed the trading price floor and ceiling on Steniel’s shares, considering that trading was suspended for a long period.
This is good news for minority shareholders who have long been waiting for the suspension to be lifted, as they will now be able to trade their shares.
In 2000, Steniel signed a P636-million term loan agreement with several banks to increase capital.
Steniel, however, was unable to repay its loans due to “working capital drain” as it had also been repaying past debts. The company likewise cited “the difficult business and economic conditions during the period.”
“The group found it difficult to sustain further payments of debt while at the same time ensuring continued operations,” it said in its stock exchange filing on Monday.
The lending banks declared the company in default in May 2006, and the loan balances were sold to third parties.By July that same year, Steniel’s shareholders approved the filing of borrower-initiated petitions for corporate rehabilitation. The PSE subsequently suspended trading.
A company or debtor—in this case, Steniel—files for corporate rehabilitation in court to help restore it to a “position of successful operation and solvency.” This is granted when the court finds that it is economically feasible for the company to continue operations.
Steniel appealed to the PSE to have the trading suspension lifted after its petitions for rehabilitation were dismissed by different courts.
In denying the appeal, the local bourse pointed out in 2017 that the company’s stockholders’ equity had remained negative since 2008.Steniel subsequently addressed this via share swap and purchase deals with its creditors.
The loans were also restructured, with the outstanding principal and accrued interest reduced through the turnover of Steniel’s idle machineries and spare parts.Roxburgh Investments Ltd., one of the creditors, was issued 123 million Steniel shares, converting the latter’s debt into equity.
In 2020, Steniel issued 269.26 million shares to Steniel Mindanao Packaging Corp. in exchange for all of the latter’s shares.
Steniel Netherland Holdings BV and Greenkraft Corp. sold 130.94 million of their shares in the Philippine company in October last year, increasing Steniel’s public ownership level to 22.27 percent from around 13 percent. —Meg J. Adonis INQ
