By Neil
Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 21, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines - The Gokongwei family’s
Robinsons Retail Group has firmed up its plan to raise as much as P40 billion
through an initial public offering (IPO).
The company
behind Robinsons supermarkets and department stores plans to conduct
potentially one of the largest public share sale by a Philippine firm, said
International Financing Review (IFR), a publication of Thomson Reuters.
IFR reported
that Robinsons Retail Group targets to sell 461.9 million shares at a maximum
price of P86.64 each to generate up to P40 billion in fresh capital.
Robinsons
Retail’s listing application was not immediately available at the Securities
and Exchange Commission
The retail
group of property giant Robinsons Land Corp. claims to be the country’s second
largest retailer, next only to SM Retail Inc. of the Philippines’ richest man
Henry Sy. Robinsons Retail Group owns and operates 35 department stores and 73
supermarkets nationwide.
The IPO is
scheduled in the third quarter, IFR said, adding that Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan
and UBS were tapped to facilitate the offering.
The
aggressive fundraising program, which comes at a time when the local stock
market is being battered by massive foreign fund selling could be one of the
largest share sale by a Filipino company.
In April, LT
Group Inc. of taipan Lucio Tan raised a record P37.72 billion in a follow-on
offering while SM Investments Corp. secured P28.75 billion during its IPO in
2005.
Since hitting
its 31st record high for the year at 7,392.20 on May 15, benchmark the
Philippine Stock Exchange index has since eased back to the 6,500 level as
foreign funds book profits amid the economic recovery in US.
Robinsons
Retail Group is under conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., which is also into
budget airline (Cebu Pacific), banking (Robinsons Bank Corp.), petrochemicals
(JG Summit Petrochemicals Corp.), and snacks and beverage (Universal Robina
Corp.).
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