09/10/2007
4 more firms to offer shares to public
At least four more companies have expressed interest in going public this year amid faltering stock markets and deteriorating corporate credit. These include a company engaged in BPO-related services which hopes to raise P4 B to P5 B from the maiden offering of its shares to the public; a transport company providing general freight delivery service; movie and entertainment outfit Viva Communications; and Gurango Software Corp., which offers a full range of software sales, distribution and support services. The first three companies' IPOs will be managed by BDO Capital & Investment Corp. An official of the Philippine Stock Exchange said some power firms have also signified their intention to list on the exchange to fund their expansion programs. Amon them are Northwind Power Development Co., San Carlos Bioenergy, PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp., and Enerfuse Holdings Inc. The total amount of money raised through initial public offerings (IPOs) and other share issuances reached a record high of P82.93 B in the just the first eight months of the year as eager investors take advantage of the listing boom. Last year, equity raised by listed companies via IPOs, follow-on offerings, and stock rights offerings amounted to P57.22 B. The amount is expected to increase further to the P100 B mark as more companies line up their IPOs. For the period January to August this year, six companies went to the market, raising a total of P15.62 B in fresh capital or an increase of 69 percent from the previous level's P9.24 B. Among the six, Aboitiz Power Corp. raised the biggest amount at P10.08 B followed by National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines at P2.82 B. The other companies that went public were GMA Network Inc. (P1.55
, Anchor Land Holdings, Inc. (P773.93 M), Phoenix Petroleum Philippines (P284.2 M) and Pacific Online Systems Corp. (P104.78 M). Equity raised from follow-on offerings surged to P46.75 B or almost triple the P16.24 B recorded during the year ago level and 57 percent higher than the P29.7 B chalked up for the whole of 2006. Leading the pack were Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the listed holding firm for most of the real estate interests of the family of Sen. Manuel Villar, with proceeds of P14.52 B followed by Alliance Global Group, Inc. (Alliance Global) at P10.35 B. Other firms that completed follow-on offerings during the period were Filinvest Land, Inc. (P5.92
, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (P5.67
, Philippine National Bank (P5.25
and Union Bank of the Philippines (P5.04
.
