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A TOP
official of listed Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) said
the company is targeting to generate $200 million to
$300 million in proceeds from the planned public
offering of wholly owned unit Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC)
within the second quarter.
In a
phone interview, AEV executive vice president and chief
operating officer Erramon Aboitiz said while they don’t
have yet the concrete details for the offering, their
plan is to sell 20 to 30 percent of the shares of stock
of the company to investors.
“That is
our rough estimates. We are hoping to do the offering as
fast as possible, perhaps within the second quarter,”
Aboitiz said.
After
the IPO, he expects APC to become a $1-billion company.
“APC
going public has always been a part of our strategy. The
company has enough assets and we felt that the
environment is very good for an IPO,” Aboitiz explained.
He added
the proceeds that would be earned from the IPO would be
used to support the group’s bid for the power assets up
for sale by the state-owned National Power
Corp.
APC
currently manages the power generation companies of the
Aboitiz group such as the Subic Enerzone Corp.,
Philippine HydroPower Corporation, Hedcor, Inc., Luzon
Hydro Corp., Southern Philippine Power Corp. and Western
Mindanao Power Corp.
Soon,
Aboitiz said that in exchange for shares AEV’s power
distribution assets would be transferred to APC,
effectively becoming the group’s power arm. These
distribution utilities include Davao Light and Power Co
Inc., Cotabato Light and Power Co. Inc., Visayan
Electric Co., San Fernando Electric Light and Power Co.
Power
generation and distribution are the top income producers
of the group.
From
January to September 2006, these accounted for 69
percent of total group earnings. Combined, the
distribution and generation utilities contributed P1.83
billion, up 8.2 percent over the same period in 2005.
The
board of AEV approved in a special meeting on Thursday
the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of the power
unit. The IPO, however, is still subject to approval of
the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), the Bureau of Internal
Revenue and all other required regulatory authorities.
UBS would act as the financial adviser of APC for the
IPO.
“The
public offering is consistent with the spirit of
Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) for broader
public ownership of electricity distribution and
generation assets...” AEV stated in a disclosure to the
stock exchange. |
