CONSTRUCTION firm DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc. has cut the price of its initial public offering (IPO) by almost half on Monday to just P12 per share, a drop of 47 percent from its price ceiling of P22.90.
At the said price, the company, which developed Aseana City in the Manila Bay area in Parañaque, will only raise P9.37 billion in gross proceeds, including its overallotment option, down from the previous P15.55 billion. With only the primary offer, it will raise P8.15 billion.
The company is set to be listed at the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on June 29 under the stock symbol DMW.
The company is selling a total of 679.17 million common shares with an overallotment option of 101.87 million shares.
Proceeds will be mainly used to further expand its real-estate development footprint through a mix of commercial and residential projects in Aseana City.
BPI Capital Corp. and Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. were chosen as the lead underwriters and bookrunners for the issuance.
About 70 percent of the offer shares are being sold to foreign investors and 30 percent to the domestic market.
The company owns 57 hectares of land in Metro Manila but most of it is in the 110-hectare Aseana City, one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing mixed-use business districts.
The company said it expects to close the deal that will bring offshore gaming companies into its Aseana City development in the coming months, as it is poised to benefit from the growth of the offshore gaming industry, which boosts demand for new office space.
The company has developed roughly half of the landholdings in Aseana City, but the remaining half remains unallocated.
As of end-2017, the company completed more than 100 ports, bridges, expressways, and other construction and infrastructure projects across the Philippines.
DM Wenceslao is a 53-year-old property developer and construction firm.
In November 2015 the company secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for its IPO, and planned to raise as much as P17.5 billion, one of the biggest listings at the PSE at that time. It then announced the postponement of its IPO.