SEC Facebook

The Se
curities and
E
xchange
Commission wishes to announce to the public that
HOTON RE
T
A
IL
AND SERVICES, INC.
(
“
H
OTON
”
)
has entered into a settlement
agreement with the Commission.
A
n
Advisory
against
H
OTON
was posted at the
SEC website
on 10 September 2020
in view o
f
the
report
that
it i
s offerin
g to
public its
Franchise Partnership Program
,
which
partakes of the nature of securities in the
form
investm
ent contract
under Section 3.1
of
the Securities Regulation
Code
(SRC)
.
A Show Cause O
rder was issued on 26 October 2020
on why
H
OTON
should
not
be cit
e
d
for violation of
Section 8.1
of the SRC
.
Thereafter,
H
OTON
p
roposed an offer of settlement
on 26 November 2020
amounting
to Eight Hundred Fifteen Thousand Pesos (Php815,000.00) or equivalent to
50% of the imposable penalty in accordance with Section 55.1 of
the SRC and Rule 55.1
of the
2015 SRC Implementing Rules and Regulations.
I
n
its meeting of
10 December 2020
, t
he
Commission
En B
anc
resolved to
approve
the
settlement offer
and l
ift the Advisory issued
against
H
OTON
.
Hence, on 11 December 2020, an Order was issued directing H
OTON
to pay the
amount as approved by the Commission.
In
compliance therewith,
the amount
of EIGHT HUNDRED
FIFTEEN THOUSAND
PESOS
was
PAID
by HOTON on 28 December 2020.
WHEREFORE
, the above-captioned case is now
deemed settled without any
determination of fault or guilt
on the part of
HOTON RETAIL AND SERVICES, INC.
Moreover, this
Order
effectively lifts
the Advisory issued
against
the company
.
This settlement agreement shall become effective only upon public disclosure
thereof
on the Commission’s website.
SO ORDERED.
08 January 2021,
Pasay City, Philippines