San Miguel: Power unit’s IPO to push through

Manila Standard Today
by Jenniffer B. Austria


San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., the power unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., said Monday it will push through with its planned initial public offering this year despite the global market slump.


San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang confirmed the plan in a text message when asked if the pulbic offering would go ahead this year.


The PSEi on Monday plunged 164.74 points, or 4.2 percent, to 3,721.22, falling below the 3,800-point psychological barrier on rising risk aversion as a result of the combined US and European financial woes.


SMC Global Power last week trimmed the number of offer shares it plans to sell during the public offering.


SMC Global Power said in a revised prospectus filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would offer primary and secondary shares of 290 million to 385 million in common shares at a price of P44 to P71 apiece.


San Miguel expects proceeds from the IPO to amount to between P12.76 billion and P27.33 billion.


The company’s earlier prospectus indicated it initially planned to sell between 300 and 500 million common shares to raise as much as P35.5 billion in proceeds.


SMC Global Power has tapped Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Ltd., Standard Chartered Securities Pte. Ltd., CIMB Singapore and UBS AG as joint bookrunners and international lead managers. ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. and SB Capital Investments Corp. will serve domestic lead underwriters.


The company said it would use proceeds from the IPO for expansion, including the development of greenfield power projects, and acquisition of power generation facilities.


San Miguel is currently the largest power producer in Luzon, accounting for nearly 30 percent of installed capacity. It plans to double its power capacity to 6,000 megawatts in five years.


San Miguel Power is one of four companies that are slated to go public this year. The three others are Puregold Price Club Inc., Cirtek Electronics Corp. and Calapan Ventures Inc.