The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Riza Lozada
The initial public offering (IPO) of the Villar Group’s Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc. is ushering in a series of IPOs amid the strong rebound in the stock market on expectations of a stronger economy under President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
Golden Haven gave an indicative price for its IPO of up to 74 million common shares at P10.50 each, based on recommendation of its issue manager and sole underwriter Asian Alliance Investment Corp.
Asian Alliance President Jose Antonio Lichauco reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that Golden Haven’s IPO involved the sale of 74,117,647 common shares, with the price setting date on June 9 and the offer period lasting from June 16 to 22.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records showed that companies are starting to queue up for their IPO plans, with cement producer Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. (CHP) expected to follow suit.
Most companies delayed their planned IPOs to wait for market conditions to improve while the country held elections last month.
CHP plans to raise P39.74 billion from selling up to 2.34 billion shares for P17 each.
In its proposal to the SEC, CHP said it intends to use the IPO proceeds mainly to repay a short-term loan taken for the acquisition of its operating subsidiaries Apo Cement Corp. and Solid Cement Corp.
BDO Capital & Investment Corp. will serve as domestic lead underwriter, with Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., United Kingdom J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, United Kingdom The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (Singapore) as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.
Golden Haven Memorial Park plans to use the net proceeds from its P787.12-million IPO to fund its acquisition, growth and expansion strategies, as well as working capital requirements.
Golden Haven plans to increase the capacity of its existing cemeteries, columbarium facilities and funeral homes by undertaking land and site development of the undeveloped areas of its existing memorial parks in Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Bulacan, and Las Piñas for the next two years.
The company also said proceeds from the IPO will also finance the balance of acquisition costs for lands in Iloilo; Bambang, Nueva Ecija; and San Fernando, Pampanga.
Golden Haven will be known in the bourse under the symbol “HVN”.
On March 17, the SEC approved the increase in the company’s authorized capital stock from P20 million, divided into 200,000 common shares with a par value of P100 per share, to P1 billion, divided into 996,000,000 common shares with a par value of one peso per share, and 400,000,000 preferred shares with par value of one centavo per share.
Last December 29, the company’s board approved the declaration of dividends of P4,000 per common share or a total of P800 million, payable to stockholders of record as of the date of declaration.
In 2015, Golden Haven posted net profit of P151 million and with basic and diluted earnings per share of P755.58 computed by dividing the weighted number of outstanding common shares at 200,000, the company preliminary prospectus indicated.
As of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, the company has four stockholders owning 100 or more shares each of the company.