|
SAN
Miguel Corp. (SMC) pared anew the price range per share
for its brewery’s initial public offering (IPO) to P8 to
P11 apiece to attract investors in a falling market.
Parent
SMC cut the price range per share of unit San Miguel
Brewery Inc. (SMB) by 29 percent from P8 to P15.40.
“There
is really strong demand at that price [P8 to P11],” BDO
Capital and Investment Corp. president Ed Francisco said
in an interview. BDO Capital is one of the domestic lead
underwriters for the IPO, along with ATR KimEng Capital
Partners Inc.
Proceeds
the IPO would fund a P450-million capital expenditure
this year, which include operations improvement;
replacement and maintenance; and expansion and
diversification.
Apart
from the sale of new shares, parent firm San Miguel
Corp. (SMC) would sell up to 1.39 billion secondary held
shares. At P11 per share, SMC would raise proceeds of
about P15.3 billion which it would use to pay debts.
“We are
very confident that our IPO would be successful because
the company’s fundamentals are very solid and it is
world-class. Having said that, it can withstand any
market condition,” said SMC president Ramon S. Ang at
the sidelines of SMB Inc.’s domestic road show last
Friday.
Tomorrow, the IPO entourage is off to its international
road show to entice investors in Hong Kong, Singapore
and London to invest in the company. CitiGroup Global
Markets Ltd. and ATR KimEng act as joint global
coordinators, joint bookrunners and joint lead managers
for the IPO.
SMB’s
net income during the first quarter of the year amounted
to P2.5 billion from P1.8 billion a year earlier. Net
sales also grew to P12.3 billion from P10.8 billion, due
primarily to an 18 percent rise in sales volume. Sales
volumes reached 47 million cases in the first three
months of 2008. |
