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iRemit, Inc., the remittance firm up for listing with
the Philippine Stock Exchange next month, has opened its second
European subsidiary on September 16 in Vienna, Austria.
According to company estimates,
there are currently 30,000 Filipinos, mostly female nurses, working
in Austria.
iRemit is the largest
Filipino-owned nonbank remittance firm in the Philippines. It
entered the market in 2001 and has kept its business growing with
the help of its 24-hour, bank-to-bank service transactions and
remittance through VISA debit card.
It currently operates in 24
countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Middle East and North
America.
The company has also obtained its
license to operate in New Zealand and is set to open the new office
in the country where 20,000 Filipinos workers by the end of this
year.
Its new office in Vienna is
located between the Philippine Embassy and St. Stephen’s
Cathedral, where most Filipinos gather.
Recently, the Securities and
Exchange Commission approved i-Remit’s application to sell up to
140.6 million shares to the public for the first time in October.
This is equivalent to about a quarter of the firm’s capital stock.
Of the total, 197.417 million
would be sold by way of a primary offer while 33.187 million would
be through a secondary offer at a price between P4.00 to P5.77 per
share.
First Metro Investment Corp. was
assigned as the issue manager and underwriter for the fund raising
exercise.
Total proceeds is expected to
reach P811.3 million, P575.6 million of which would come from the
primary offer and would earmarked to finance iRemit expansion
abroad.
--Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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