ISM Communications to acquire Udenna's media, entertainment businesses

ISM Communications Corp. on Tuesday said its board has approved to acquire and fully own Dennis Uy’s media and entertainment businesses, and to change its corporate name to Dito CME Holdings Corp.

The ISM board also approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock, corporate information officer Leandro Abarquez said in a regulatory filing.

“The board approved that the name of the corporation be amended from ISM Communications Corporation to Dito CME Holdings Corp.,” the filing read.

ISM said it will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Udenna Communications Media and Entertainment Holdings Corp.

Udenna Communications was supposed to be the parent company for the Udenna Group’s shares in the telecommunications, media, and entertainment businesses including Dito Telecommunity Corp.

Dito Tel was awarded a permit to operate as the country’s third major telecommunications player last July 8.

With a minimum speed of 27 megabits per second and capital and operating expenses of P150 billion, Dito Tel vowed to achieve a nationwide coverage of 37.03 percent in its first year of operations.

GMA News Online has contacted Dito Tel chief administrative officer Adel Tamano to elaborate on the transaction, but no response has been received as of this posting.

In the same disclosure, ISM said its board approved an increase in authorized capital stock to P40 billion, divided into 40 billion common shares at P1.00 per share.

The company had an authorized capital stock of P2.80 billion, divided into 2.80 billion common shares at P1.00 per share.

In a separate filing, ISM said the backdoor listing and share swap deal with Udenna Corp. will not happen anymore.

“The backdoor listing and the share swap transaction will no longer push through,” said ISM.

ISM was planning to have a share-swap deal with Udenna Corp., a transaction valued at P72.174 billion.

ISM was supposed to issue 24,058,105,580 common shares to shareholders of Udenna Corp., priced at P3.00 per common share, in exchange for 5 billion Udenna common shares, and 701,250,000 Udenna preferred shares.

Udenna has six major business—petroleum products through the Phoenix brand and convenience stores through Phoenix Petroleum; shipping and logistics through Chelsea logistics; property development through Udenna Development; education and restaurants through Enderun; infrastructure through Udenna Infrastructure; and tourism and gaming through PH-Resorts.

Shares of ISM closed Tuesday at P3.63 per share, down P0.52 or 12.53% from the previous finish of P4.15 per share. —VDS, GMA News