CHEMICAL Industries of the Philippines, Inc. is changing its name to Uniholdings, Inc. and will merge with six companies as part of its shift to the real estate business.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the name change on May 24, the company said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Wednesday.
The name change aligns with the proposed amendment of its business purpose to engage in property development, it said.
Chemical Industries, which started in 1959, manufactures, sells and distributes industrial chemicals and leases office space, according to its corporate profile on the PSE website.
The chemical segment makes and trades chemical products for water and sewage treatment and inorganic coagulants for the paper industry. It stopped operating this segment since CAWC, Inc., Chemphil Manufacturing Corp., and Kemwater Phil. Corp. ceased operations.
In a separate disclosure on Thursday, the company said its board approved on May 29 the exclusion of Unioil Group, Inc. from a planned merger, as well as the continuation of the merger with six other companies. UniHoldings will become the surviving entity.
These are Addventure Properties, Inc., Citiworld Properties and Development Corp., Exquadra, Inc., Quantumlink Realty Corp., Buklod Realty Corp., and Rivertanks, Inc., Exquadra, Citiworld, Quantumlink, and Buklod are engaged in property leasing.
“After a careful review of the business plan of the company and its affiliates, the company has adopted the above resolutions to clearly delineate and define the lines of businesses within the organization, with Uniholdings, Inc. focusing primarily on businesses related to real estate,” it said.
The company will file the final merger articles and plan and other documents with the corporate regulator, Philippine Stock Exchange and other regulatory agencies, it added.
Uniholdings also changed its office address after the corporate name change.
“Chemical Industries deemed it best to transfer its principal place of business in view of the sale of the land and building where the previous principal office of the corporation was established,” it said.
After the transfer of the principal office to Pasig City, the company would prioritize leasing activities, it added.
The company noted that in implementing the merger, all shares of capital stock of the absorbed companies issued and outstanding on the effective date of the merger would be canceled, subject to valuation confirmation and approval by the SEC.
In exchange for the net assets of the absorbed companies and the canceled shares of their stockholders, 61.98 million Uniholdings shares will be issued, it added.
In another disclosure, Chemical Industries said it expects its public float to go below the 10% minimum public ownership and 20% minimum for backdoor-listed companies.
“The company has been required to do a follow-on offering and hopes to raise the public float to a level compliant with PSE requirements, after the follow-on offer exercise,” it said.
It is still finalizing the merger plan, which it would file with the SEC by next week, it added. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave