MRC Allied buys 31% stake in Rappler

MRC Allied [MRC 1.43 ?4.4%; 723% avgVol] [link] disclosed that it has agreed to purchase the entirety of Dolphin Fire Group’s (DFG) 31.2% interest in Rappler Holdings Corp (RHC), which is the parent company of the Rappler news company. DFG is owned by Menlo Capital, which is the holding company owned by the Bitanga Family. MRC is also owned by Menlo Capital. MRC will purchase the shares in DFG by way of a share swap at a price to be set by a third-party valuation firm. The deal will make MRC the largest single shareholder in RHC.

MB BOTTOM-LINE: Mr. Bitanga is kicking up a lot of dust, but it’s just not clear to me what’s actually going on. All the moves at MRC to make it a holding company in accordance with MRC’s goal of becoming a holding company, all of the moves with Philippine Telegraph and Telephone, and now this. One thing is clear: investors like it. The stock is up 36% over two days of trading. Those other MRC moves didn’t trigger this kind of investor response.