Seacem trims stake in Lafarge Republic, Philippines

Southeast Asia Cement Holdings (Seacem) on Tuesday sold a 2.3 per cent stake in Lafarge Republic Inc (LRI) to local institutional investors for PHP1.14bn (US$27m).

Seacem sold 136 million of its LRI shares at PHP8.40/share, according to disclosures by both companies to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Aside from raising fresh funds, Seacem’s move to reduce its stake in LRI is part of measures to boost the public float of the latter to meet the 10 per cent minimum by the PSE for a continuing listing. The transaction has increased Lafarge’s public ownership to six per cent from 3.7 per cents, which is still short of the PSE’s requirements.