GT Capital IPO proceeds almost fully disbursed

MANILA, Philippines - GT Capital Holdings Inc., the investment holding firm of banking tycoon George S.K. Ty, has spent nearly all of the roughly P14 billion in net proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO) last year.

The conglomerate used the capital it raised to increase its stake in its operating units and pay debts, with another P1.02 billion to be spent for a power plant project in Cebu, the company said.

In a regulatory filing, GT Capital said it booked P13.856 billion in actual net proceeds from the IPO. It also received P59.52 million in interest income, P507.85 million in replenishment and P474,001 for the reimbursement of the IPO expenses.

“The company received gross proceeds amounting to P15.02 billion from the primary offering of 33 million shares in April 2012, and incurred P1.16 billion in IPO-related expenses,” GT Capital said.

GT Capital raised P21.6-billion from selling primary and secondary shares in its IPO last year. Global investment bank UBS AG also exercised the option to buy P2.8 billion more shares from the overallotment option.

Of the net proceeds, GT Capital said it spent P893 million for the acquisition of a 4.6-percent stake in Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) from Global Business Holdings Inc., P2.7 billion for the purchase of another 20 percent shares in property firm Federal Land Inc. and P663 million to fund the Toledo power plant expansion.

It also spent P3.8 billion for capital expenditures “to finance the acceleration of key growth projects of Federal Land and P2.32 billion for another 12 percent share in GBPC.”

GT Capital said the P2.8 billion that were previously allotted to prepay loans from Union Bank of the Philippines and partial payment of the P5-billion notes maturing in 2013 were re-allocated to settle the P4-billion, five year loan with subsidiary Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.

Hence, only P122,362 of the net proceeds from the IPO were unused, the company said.

But capital spending will continue as the company pursues more growth for its businesses.

“We still have to fund an estimated P1.02 billion in equity contribution to GBPC representing future equity calls on the Toledo expansion project,” GT Capital said.

“We are planning to fund this through a combination of internally generated funds and bank loans,” it added.

Late last year, GBPC announced it is investing P10.2 billion to expand its coal-fired power plant in Cebu. The 82-megawatt clean coal-fired power plant will start commercial operations in 2014.