Filipino minority shareholders in the Philippine Racing Club, Inc. (PRCI) recently urged the firm’s Malaysian-led majority directors to disclose the full details of two major transactions "in the spirit of transparency and to show support for the Philippines’ reforms in the corporate sector."
The Filipino shareholders also dared the Malaysian group to disclose who bought some 30 percent of PRCI’s holdings in the moribund JTH Holdings, Inc., saying the mysterious buyer "will definitely have a windfall from the swap of the firm’s shares with the title to the Sta. Ana racetrack."
The Filipino shareholders made the call in the wake of a Court of Appeals (CA) decision junking the petition of the Malaysianled directors seeking to stop a legal action before the trial court filed by the former.
The Filipino shareholder group had earlier questioned a move by the Malaysian-led group to purchase a shell corporation and swap the shares of the firm with the title to the 26-hectare Sta. Ana racetrack currently valued at an estimated P10 billion to P12 billion.
"Now that the CA has dismissed their petition, it is time for the majority directors to make a full disclosure regarding the purchase of the P25-million JTH Davies Holdings, Inc. with more than P450 million of PRCI funds and the attempted swap of JTH Davies shares with the title to the Sta. Ana racetrack," lawyer Brigido Dulay, spokesman for the Filipino shareholders and PRCI director said.
The majority directors include representatives of the Kuala Lumpur-based Magnum Holdings, Inc., Santiago Cua, Sr., Solomon Cua, Exequiel Robles and former defense secretary Renato de Villa.
According to Dulay, the majority directors must explain to all investors and shareholders "both the details and the logic to what we perceive to be obviously lopsided deals."
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