IT firm to list at PSE’s SME board

Cashrounds Inc., an online matchmaker for companies looking for private equity financing from institutional investors, will list its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) tomorrow, July 23.

The company will offer to the public a total of eight million shares, representing 28.57 percent of its outstanding capital. The shares, which will be sold at P1 per share, will be listed at PSE’s small and medium enterprise board.

Cashrounds, a wholly-owned subsidiary of investment house Amalgamated Investment Bancorporation (AIB), will use proceeds from the offering to finance working capital requirements.

Abacus Capital & Investment Corp. was tapped as lead underwriter for the issue. Ten percent of the entire IPO shall be offered to local small investors.

Net proceeds from the offering, amounting to P6.8 million, will be used for additional working capital in anticipation of higher business volumes and transactions, (P3.66 million); hardware and software upgrades of its interactive website, (P1.02 million); and for increased marketing and promotional activities.

Cashrounds is registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a new information technology (IT) service firm.

The company’s product can be best described as an electronic matchmaking or brokering via the Internet between investors and companies looking for equity funding outside of the stockmarket.

Through its online website, Cashrounds provides a platform where entrepreneurs of small and medium-size enterprises (particularly those engaged in the ITsector) can present their business plans online, have them evaluated by the investment bankers behind the company, and privately placed with interested and qualified investors in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cashrounds started as MF Schroeder & Co. Inc. on June 5, 1996, initially to engage in the purchase and sale of securities. In early 1998, it changed its name to MFS Markets following a change in ownership.

In March 2002, there was again a change in name to Cashrounds with the primary purpose of linking and matching SME businesses, in both traditional and growth industries, in need of additional investment capital and funding to expand and operate their respective businesses with potential investors using the new information technology.

The new thrust of the company was created in response to the growing interest and activity in the private placement of equity and debt securities, particularly of the IT-sector companies.

Listed as shareholders/directors of the company are Ramon Garcia Jr., Juan Carlos Del Rosario, Rene Benitez, Stanley Saguinsin, and Paul Wong Pau Lu.

AIB, on the other hand, is owned by a group of Filipino-Singaporean investors, including the SNP Corp. Ltd. of Singapore, which holds a 30- percent interest, MF-AIB Holdings Inc. (25 percent), Hiap MOh Corp. Ltd. (20 percent), Pioneer Ventures Inc. (8.33 percent), and Cezar T. Quiambao, the chief executive officer of Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp.

SNP is an investment holding company engaged in printing high quality security and commercial products, publishing and distribution of books and maps, advertising and web publishing, interactive media development, and internet-related services. It also has operations in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and China.

Hiap, on the other hand, is a publicly company in Singapore that manufactures various kinds of paper products while Pioneer is an investment holding company of the Lorenzo family whose interests include agribusiness concerns such as Lapanday Holdings Inc., Del Monte Philippines, Macondray and Co. Inc. as well as financial services and real estate ventures.