Retail chain Puregold Price Club Inc. is pursuing an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as P12.42 billion this year to expand its store network, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Thursday.
In a preliminary prospectus, Puregold outlined plans to sell 600 million primary and secondary common shares priced no more than P18 each to raise up to P10.8 billion.
The company also provided an over-allotment option for 90 million common shares, which could add another P1.62 billion.
Including over-allotments, the offer shares represent 34.5 percent of the company’s outstanding stock.
Puregold planned to hold the IPO in March this year, saying it would sell 700 million common shares at P16 each. The company decided to postpone the initial share sale given volatile market conditions in the first half.
For the current offer, Puregold tapped The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and UBS AG as lead international managers and bookrunners while BDO Capital and Investment Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp. were tapped as domestic underwriters.
Evercore Partners served as financial adviser to the deal.
The 13-year-old retailer led by Filipino-Chinese businessman Lucio Co is selling shares to partly fund the expansion of its store network, mainly geared toward the mass market.
At present, Puregold has 72 stores mainly in Metro Manila and Luzon. The company operates supermarkets, located near residential areas, and hypermarkets, which are built near commercial centers or transportation hubs.
It also operates so-called discounters, which offer limited goods but at lower price points.
The company plans to open outlets in new locations, including Davao, Rizal, Cavite, Pangasinan, Baguio, Ilocos, Camarines Sur, Bacolod, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte, Albay and Mindoro. Capital spending this year is set at P1.17 billion and P3.02 billion for 2012.
Puregold also plans to retire debts worth P2.25 billion to China Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., the prospectus showed.
Puregold said sales in the six months to June rose 41 percent to P17.3 billion. Net income during the period jumped 269 percent to P782.8 million.
So far, only building contractor Megawide Construction Corp. braved the equity market to hold its P2.3 billion IPO in February.
Apart from Puregold, electronics maker Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. has filed its application to hold a P660 million initial share sale.
