MANUEL Villar, a former politician who now runs the country’s fifth-largest property developer, is planning an even bigger capital raising activity for his Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc. a few years after it goes public.
“It’s just a small IPO [initial public offering]. It’s all that we can do now. But the really major fund-raising will be two to three years after this IPO. That’s when we will be getting the big names for underwriters,” Villar said in an interview.
Villar is also the chairman of publicly listed Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. Golden Haven, for now, will be a separate entity. The company plans to sell 74.12 million common shares for up to P10.62 apiece, raising P786.84 million in proceeds, according to its prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC still has to approve its application.
“The offer shares represent 15 percent of the outstanding common shares of the company after the offer, and will be issued out of the company’s authorized and unissued capital stock,” it said.
The net proceeds, amounting to P711.77 million after deduction of transaction fees and expenses, will be used to fund Golden Haven’s acquisition, growth and expansion strategies, it said.
“In particular, expanding its existing death-care facilities, products and services through undertaking land and site development of the undeveloped areas of its existing memorial parks,” the company said.
Golden Haven will also spend for land acquisition, construction of new memorial chapels and crematory facilities in Golden Haven Las Piñas Park and for general corporate purposes, including working-capital requirements.
The company has tapped Asian Alliance Investment Corp. to act as the issue manager and lead underwriter for the IPO, which could happen during the second half of the year.
“We want to end the year with 14 memorial parks. We decided to double our existing seven memorial parks. Our aim is to have the biggest network of small parks,” Villar said earlier.
Villar said they also intend to expand their products by entering the business of funeral chapels and offering memorial plans.