SEC okays Max’s P4.6-B share sale

MANILA, Philippines - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light to  Max’s Group Inc., the country’s largest casual dining restaurant chain, to proceed with its planned P4.6-billion share sale.

Max’s Group, formerly Pancake House Inc., will sell up to 300.136 million common shares priced at up to P21.75 each.

The shares consist of up to 34.106 million new shares, up to 204.638 million issued shares held and to be sold by certain wholly-owned subsidiaries, and up to 61.391 million issued shares to be sold by certain selling shareholders.

Max’s Group earlier decided to cut down the offer price to P21.75 per share from the initial price of up to P29.50 apiece after consultations were made with its underwriters and discussions with key institutional investors.

The company and certain shareholders intend to raise P4 billion from the offer. An additional P600 million may also be raised if over-allotments are utilized.

The final offer price of the offer shares, however, shall still be determined through a bookbuilding process and further discussions between the company and its underwriters.

Max’s Group intends to use bulk of the net proceeds from the offering to repay long term loan obligations while the balance are eyed to fund capital expenditures for store and commissary expansion and working capital requirements.

The integration of Max’s Group and Pancake House created the country’s leading chained full service restaurant group with a combined market share of 28.3 percent in terms of value sales as of end-2013.