LT Group launches follow-on offering

MANILA, Philippines - LT Group Inc., the flagship holding firm of tobacco, beer and airline magnate Lucio Tan, launched yesterday its overseas follow-on offering.

The conglomerate planned to sell roughly 1.6 billion shares at P18 to P20.50 per share, the International Financing Review of the Reuters Group reported yesterday.

At the price range that has yet to be finalized, LT Group stands to raise P28.8 billion to P32.8 billion by selling as much as 1.6 billion existing shares to foreign investors.

LT Group shares were the third most traded stocks yesterday, surging 6.45 percent or P1.18 to close at P19.48 as investors await details on the follow-on offering.

The company has yet to disclose the follow-on offering to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

In January, LT Group president Michael G. Tan said the overseas equity offering will be finalized in April.

Last August, LT Group secured the board of directors’ approval for an equity placement abroad involving as much as three billion shares held by its controlling shareholder, Tangent Holdings Corp., at a price to be determined at the end of the book-building exercise.

LT Group earlier said it is raising fresh capital to beef up the group’s arsenal as it prepares for the next wave of growth of its banking, tobacco, liquor, property and airline businesses.

UBS Investments Philippines Inc. was hired as the financial adviser and sole bookrunner for the share sale.

The listed firm said net income attributable to LT Group climbed 29 percent to P7.51 billion from P5.82 billion a year ago.

Consolidated profits grew 31 percent to P8.74 billion despite revenues slipping 6.48 percent to P30.57 billion from P32.69 billion.

LT Group serves as the umbrella company for Tan’s various businesses including Asia Brewery Inc., Fortune Tobacco Corp., Eton Properties Philippines Inc. and Philippine National Bank.

The consolidation program last year aligned all of Tan’s assets under one roof, allowing the group to leverage emerging opportunities in different sectors and provide better realization of value for investors.