Maynilad IPO set next year

MANILA, Philippines — Maynilad Water Services Inc. is finally pushing through with its initial public offering (IPO) next year.

Maynilad president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez said the company, which is required to list on or before January 2027, is poised to make its stock market debut in 2025.

“Our target is to be prepared for two possible dates. Before the elections – April. Or after the elections – July,” Fernandez said in a media briefing in Taiwan.

“Our plan is to be push-button-ready. So we are now pushing our team to apply already by the first quarter of next year,” he said.

According to Fernandez, Maynilad has appointed HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS as its financial advisors.

With regard to the size of the planned IPO, Fernandez said that it is still too early to talk about the valuation.

“This is a major listing that will not be funded only by local investors. We really need an (overseas) component,” Fernandez.

Under Maynilad’s legislative franchise, the company must become a publicly listed firm on or before January 2027 and offer at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stocks five years from the grant of the franchise.

Asked on why Maynilad decided to do the IPO next year and not further down the road, Fernandez said that company is just making sure that it gets done in case the environment gets worse.

“You never know. Better to be ready. And we also need funds,” he said.

Maynilad is the concessionaire of the government in providing water services in the West Zone of Metro Manila.

The company is jointly owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (53 percent), DMCI Holdings of the Consunji family (25 percent) and Marubeni Corp. of Japan (20 percent).

While an equal dilution among the shareholders is ideal, Fernandez said that there is currently no discussions about it at present.

“Marubeni wants to stay. In fact, they are very sensitive in being diluted. They are the most sensitive actually in being diluted. They don’t want to dilute their board membership. That is what they are most critical about,” he said.