San Miguel power unit still keen on P27-billion IPO

MANILA, Philippines - SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., the energy arm of food-to-infrastructure conglomerate San Miguel Corp., is still bent on undertaking an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares and is just waiting for market conditions to stabilize, according to a top company official.

“We will do it (IPO). We’re just hoping to get the right timing,” said San Miguel president Ramon S. Ang.

Ang said the group was also open to selling some of it stake to other interested parties through a private placement.

The company announced last October that it was shelving its IPO due to the current volatility of the capital market. Based on its IPO application, SMC Global was planning to raise between P12.76 billion and P27.34 billion from a base offer of 290 million to 385 million primary and secondary shares at a maximum price of P71 each.

The shares were supposed to be sold at a price range of P44 to P71 each.   

 After the IPO, San Miguel’s stake in SMC Global would go down to 67 percent, assuming that all shares in the base offer as well as the green shoe and upsize options would be sold out.

SMC Global had planned to use proceeds from the IPO to develop greenfield power projects, acquire existing power generation capacities, and for general corporate purposes.

The company has tapped Standard Chartered Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. as its sole financial adviser as well as joint bookrunner and international managers, along with Goldman Sachs Pte. and UBS AG.

On the other hand, ATR KimEng Capital Partners Inc. and SB Capital Investment Corp. were appointed as domestic lead underwriters.

SMC Global Power is also preparing to bid for selected state-owned power generation plants that are scheduled for privatization as asset sales.