Puregold's global share offer 3 times oversubscribed

MANILA, Philippines - The global share sale of supermarket chain Puregold Price Club has been three times oversubscribed, according to one of its international lead underwriters.

Lauro Baja, UBS managing director for the Philippines, said the issue attracted orders from several sovereign wealth funds looking for long-term investments despite the volatility in global markets.

“Foreign investors are attracted to the Philippines, especially on the retail market, and Puregold is considered a pure retail play,” Baja said.

Puregold priced its maiden offering of shares at P12.50 apiece, the low end of a revised indicative price range. At a 2011 price-to-earnings multiple of 11.8, the retailer’s initial public offering (IPO) is very attractive compared to other retailers in Asia.

“We could have priced higher but the owner wants to leave some upside on the table for investors. We wanted to eliminate any perception that the company was squeezing investors up to the last cent,” Baja said.

Puregold will sell up to 500 million new shares through a primary offering and 100 million existing shares held by majority shareholders.

The shares to be offered represent 34.5 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding capital stock after the IPO. It has an option to sell another 90 million shares in case of strong demand.

The share issuance is expected to fetch P7.5 billion, P6 billion of which will go to Puregold while the balance of P1.5 billion will go to the selling shareholders. The proceeds may reach up to P8.62 billion should the company decide to exercise the over-allotment option.

The domestic offering kicked off yesterday and will run until Sept. 29 while the shares will start trading on the local bourse on Oct. 5.

The company is the country’s second largest retailer among hypermarkets and supermarkets. From just a single store in 1998, it has grown to 72 in 20 cities and 22 municipalities throughout Metro Manila and the main island of Luzon as of July 2011.

In the six months ending June this year, the company posted a net income of P782.8 million, up 269 percent from a year ago as net sales grew 41 percent to P17.3 billion.