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VIVA Communications Inc. on Thursday told the
Philippine Stock Exchange that it will postpone its planned maiden
share sale to the public, citing “unfavorable market
sentiments.”
Taking its cue from other firms
that earlier backed out, the entertainment outfit said its initial
public offering (IPO) would still push through this year, albeit at
a later date, possibly in the first semester.
“Even as the company’s
planned IPO received strong investor interest during the road shows
held in the cities of Davao, Cebu, Bacolod and Batangas, the
company’s management is of the opinion that it would not be in the
best interest of its present and future stockholders to proceed with
the IPO as scheduled,” Viva said.
The company already trimmed the
lower end of its price range from P9.72 apiece to P8.10 to give it
enough elbowroom in an extremely volatile market.
The company was targeting the
retail market instead of institutional investors, who are expected
to shy away from emerging market issues in light of the global
volatility. It was supposed to hold its investors’ briefing Friday
and list in the local bourse on March 5 after raising an expected
P752 million to P1.2 billion in gross proceeds by selling 142.8
million common shares.
Earlier, Cebu Air Inc., operator
of budget airline Cebu Pacific shelved its planned IPO to the second
half of the year. Another company, Petrolift Inc. opted to take out
a P1.8-billion loan from Security Bank Corp. for its planned
expansion.
Last month, Pepsi-Cola
Philippines Inc. braved the volatile markets, forcing it to cut its
offer price to P3.50 each. It also paid the price as its shares fell
to P2.85, or 18.57 percent lower than its initial value during its
debut at the local bourse due to low demand as risk-averse investors
began unloading their shares.
Other firms expected to sell
shares for the first time to the public during the first half of the
year include San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Packaging Products,
Gurango Software Corp. and dB Wizards Inc.
--Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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