PhilWeb completes US$15.9mln sale of tranche of treasury common shares to JKS Tech

PhilWeb Corp says it has completed sale of nearly 61.04 million of its treasury common shares to JKS Tech Solutions Inc for a consideration of just over PHP1.01 billion (US$15.9 million). The move was under a cross-equity deal first announced in September. PhilWeb is a Philippines-listed business-to-business (B2B) service provider to the country’s online gaming sector. JKS Tech is a specialist in gaming system administration. In a Tuesday filing, PhilWeb said the latest exercise completed on October 30 under the collaboration, priced the common shares from its treasury stock at PHP16.50 per unit. The latest reported transaction was one of a number, that has seen PhilWeb sell all its nearly 81.38 million treasury common shares to JKS Tech. The total consideration on the 81.38 billion treasury shares – representing 4.85 percent of PhilWeb’s issued and outstanding stock – is put at PHP1.34 billion. JKS Tech has been described by PhilWeb as a Philippines-based B2B technology, platform and digital infrastructure company serving licensed mid-market operators in the digital entertainment sector. The treasury-shares sale is part of a broader cross-investment initiative between PhilWeb and JKS Tech. In early September, PhilWeb said it was putting in aggregate nearly PHP4.23 billion into JKS Tech via a subscription of Common B shares in the latter company. The infusion is intended to give the PhilWeb group a 30-percent “strategic equity interest” in JKS Tech. PhilWeb said previously that the proceeds from the treasury-share sale would be used to fund partially its investment in JKS Tech. PhilWeb stressed that the subscriptions and the treasury-share sale were “separate contractual legs” of the overall transaction. PhilWeb also said that its treasury shares sale was also intended to help restore a positive consolidated equity profile.