Merkado Barkada
November 29, 2024 | 8:00am
Golden MV Holdings [HVN 2150.00 unch; 2% avgVol] [link], Manny Villar’s landbanking and deathcare services holding company, gave notice to the exchange yesterday that its board voted to change the name of the company to “Villar Land Holdings Corp.” The change will need to be approved by HVN’s shareholders at its upcoming shareholders’ meeting in December before it can be implemented. HVN justified the change by saying that the move is to “align with the recent developments in the company specifically with the acquisition of companies owing land in Villar City.” HVN said the name change will allow the company to “gain further flexibility in undertaking the business expansion.”
MB bottom-line: Yeah, no, changing the name means nothing to HVN’s “flexibility” and ability to perform its role in the development of Villar City. Sure, the stock is technically named for the Villar Family’s deathcare brand, Golden Haven, and the business appears to be morphing into something of a vehicle for the development of Villar City, but it’s not necessary for the name of a company to have any relation to what it does, or for the ticker symbol to even match that name. That’s all just optics. Just think about Figaro Culinary Group [FCG 0.84, down 2.3%; 85% avgVol] (née Figaro Coffee Group) which listed as a vehicle for rapid expansion of its pizza business. It didn’t have to list itself as Angel’s Pizza Group. For mismatching name and ticker, you can look at Semirara Mining and Power [SCC 32.00 unch; 49% avgVol] that still trades under the initialism of its original name, Semirara Coal Corp.. SCC didn’t have to change its ticker to SMPC. I think this move makes sense, but it’s not a game-changer. It’s a signal (to me at least) that the Villar Family intends to be more deliberate in its use of HVN to develop Villar City. That’s an ambitious project, and the family isn’t getting any younger.
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