OCEANAGOLD (Philippines) Inc. has finalized the offer price for its initial public offering (IPO) at P13.33 per share, or lower than the initial figure of P17.28.
Meanwhile, the Regional Trial Court of Nueva Vizcaya denied on April 24, 2024 the issuance of a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) assailing OceanaGold Philippines’ renewed Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA).
The operator of the Didipio gold-copper mine that straddles the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino said it lowered by 23 percent the offer price of its IPO due to “challenging” market conditions.” With that, the mining firm is expected to raise P6.08 billion from the IPO instead of P7.6 billion.
Proceeds from the sale of up to 456 million secondary common shares, equivalent to a 20-percent stake in OceanaGold Philippines, will be remitted to the parent firm OceanaGold Corporation, the selling shareholder.
The parent firm said last week that the proceeds from the IPO will “applied … toward the repayment of the company’s debt” that was at $135 million as of the end of last year.
OceanaGold Philippines’ IPO required under the terms of its mining permit, will run from April 29 to May 6, 2024. The IPO was approved by the PSE last week and in March by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The listing of OceanaGold Philippines’ shares at the PSE main board will be on May 13, 2024.
On the lowering of the IPO price of OceanaGold Philippines shares, China Bank Capital Corporation Managing Director Juan Paolo Colet said this was caused by “challenging equity market conditions.”
“It is very likely that investors demanded a lower price to boost potential returns,” he added.
However, Colet said that “the final offer price translates to an estimated dividend yield of around 12.2 percent, which is very attractive.”
The mining firm’s operations straddling the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino covers an area of 27,000 hectares.
OceanaGold Philippines’ operations at the Didipio mine involves sourcing ore from the underground mine and its surface ore stockpile. The ore is processed to produce gold ore and copper concentrate.
The mining company is known for its greening efforts in its operations that straddles areas in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino provinces.
Vizcaya court denies TEPO
The Nueva Vizcaya RTC has denied the issuance of a TEPO assailing the mining company’s renewed Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA).
This, as Didipio Barangay Captain Henry Guay called out the petitioners stating that they have asked them to support the petition, but he denied their request.
“The court has carefully studied the petition and finds that at this point, it contains mere allegations that must be threshed out in a full-blown trial. It is not convinced at this point that there is an immediate or irreparable harm to the environment to justify the issuance of a TEPO especially so that the petition is not supported by clear and convincing evidence to enable the court to make an intelligent finding as to whether or not to issue the said protection order,” the RTC resolution stated.
The RTC added that the TEPO cannot be granted at this time due to lack of basis.
Earlier, Guay called out the petitioners stating that they have asked them to support the petition, but he denied their request. “As residents, we do not have a problem with OceanaGold. Our barangay is peaceful,” Guay said.
“The Barangay Council believes that the FTAA renewal of OceanaGold has undergone the right process as mandated by the government. In truth, it actually took two years to review their application before they were granted the approval. If there is any wrong doing that the Company is doing, I, together with the barangay officials will be the first ones to call out OceanaGold and for the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to close down their mine,” Guay added.
In Barangay Resolution No. 13, series of 2024 dated February 5, 2024, the Didipio Barangay Council denied the request of Didipio Earth-Savers Multi-Purpose Association (DESAMA), which are among the petitioners of the TEPO, to demand the cancelation of OceanaGold’s FTAA to the Office of the President.
“This body respects the overwhelming support among the residents for the continued operations of the Didipio Mine,” the resolution asserted.
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