By Richmond Mercurio (The Philippine
Star) | Updated August 27, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The
newly-incorporated holding company of affordable housing developer Property Co.
of Friends Inc. (Pro-Friends) is all set for its initial public offering (IPO)
by October this year to raise as much as P7.7 billion in fresh funds for its
expansion.
Amicus Holdings Inc., the holding
entity of Pro-Friends, said yesterday it has filed an application for an IPO to
offer 385.75 million primary shares at a price of up to P20 per share.
Listing is expected in the second half
of October, the company said.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used to
finance additional investments in Pro-Friends, “particularly for land
acquisition as well as land and housing development, equity investments in its
financing subsidiary, and general corporate purposes.”
BDO Capital & Investment Corp. and
First Metro Investment Corp. have been appointed as joint issue managers, lead
underwriters and bookrunners for the transaction.
“Our group is more committed than ever
to providing long-term value for our customers through strategic and holistic
investments in providing their needs. This translates to key business
strategies in the immediate that include expanding the group’s geographic
presence nationwide, increased investments in product-level research and
development that will allow our team of specialists to remain close to our
market and be able to improve processes, product features, and
functionalities,” said Guillermo Choa, Amicus president and chief executive
officer.
Pro-Friends had earlier planned to
join the local bourse via the backdoor route by acquiring dormant listed firm
Asiatrust Development Bank Inc.
A backdoor listing, a cheaper and
faster way to achieve listing status, occurs when a listed firm is acquired by
a private company, resulting in a change in business.
Pro-Friends, which develops
communities that feature homes, schools, call centers, hospitals and malls, has
built more than 26,000 housing units and completed 52 projects in Cavite,
Iloilo and Metro Manila.
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