In a board meeting on June 17, directors of AGP Industrial “approved the sale and issuance of 136.678 million shares at P1 per share to various investors on June 17 under private placements.�

For instance, Filipino firm Sunplaza Development Corp. will buy 92.678 million new common shares worth P92.6678 million, AGP Industrial told the local bourse yesterday.

Investors Gary Lincoln C. Taboso, Rafael B. Zialcita, Antonio V.F. Gregorio III, and Chi Ho Co also bought 44 million new shares valued at P44 million.

To date, AGP Industrial has 12.877 million class “A� shares that are sold only to Filipinos, and 4.292 million class “B� shares sold to foreigners and Filipinos. The shares are listed on the local stock exchange.

Fresh capital will be used “to acquire real properties consisting of office condominiums of Sunplaza Center, Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City including payment of applicable taxes and costs of transfer,� the company said.

Remaining funds will be used for general working capital requirements, it added.

Sought for comment, Astro C. del Castillo, managing director of brokerage firm First Grade Holdings, Inc., said Sunplaza Development might be interested in a backdoor listing. “Possibly that is a backdoor listing, but we will see with more disclosures,� Mr. del Castillo said in a phone interview yesterday.

A backdoor listing occurs when a listed firm is acquired by an unlisted firm and the merger will result in a change in business.

Furthermore, the board directors approved the creation of several subsidiaries that will engage in “real estate, mining development, mining sub-contracting and equipment leasing, agriculture, palm oil production and processing.�

AGP Industrial wants to change its name either to ACG Holdings, Inc., ACG Assets Corp., Alta Global Agglomerate, Inc. or Assets Consolidated Gains Corp.

Last week, the company said the Philippine Stock Exchange lifted the trading suspension of the shares of AGP Industrial, which has already complied with reportorial requirements of the local bourse.

Trading of the shares, which had been suspended since March 2002, will resume today. Its shares were last traded on Oct. 24, 2010 at P4 each. In 2008, AGP underwent a quasi-reorganization to wipe out its mounting deficit and applied for a reduction in the par value of its shares. — Neil Jerome C. Morales