PREMIERE Horizon Alliance (PHA) Inc. announced in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that it has received a copy of an application for a writ of preliminary attachment against the assets of SquidPay Technology Inc. (SPTI) and Marvin de la Cruz, which has been granted by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 45 on Sept. 28, 2022, filed by Nuovo Gran CT Inc., through its legal counsel, the Divina Law Office.

The asset to be attached is SquidPay’s and de la Cruz’s shares of stock in PHA, which served as security for a P100million loan obtained by SPTI and de la Cruz, as evidenced by a convertible loan agreement signed on Dec. 14, 2020 with Nuovo Gran CT Inc.

The terms of the convertible loan provided for a maturity of 18 months from the execution or on June 14, 2022, and that in the event SquidPay and de la Cruz were not able to repay the loan in full, the corresponding amount due would be covered by the PHA shares held by SquidPay and de la cruz in their respective capacities.

De la Cruz, SquidPay and PHA entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) on Oct. 29, 2020 for the latter’s subscription to 2,803,030,303 shares, representing 55 percent of the outstanding capital stock of PHA valued at P925 million, or P0.33 per share. The MoA stipulated that P300 million would be paid in cash, with the balance through a combination of cash and or SquidPay shares over a two-year period.

SquidPay intended to use PHA as the corporate vehicle for a backdoor listing on the PSE. It was launched in May 2020 and had a valuation of P100 million during its first funding round. It was developing digital payment services using stored value cards, QR codes and a mobile app, and was in talks for partnerships with government agencies, local government units and transport systems for its fintech (financial technology) portfolio.