Tugboat operator Harbor Star to list on PSE Aug. 2

MANILA—Tugboat operator Harbor Star Shipping Services, Inc. has set its P593-million initial public offering for this month, targeting Aug. 2 as the date for its listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Based on an offering circular posted by the PSE, which recently approved this IPO, Harbor Star is offering up to 181.6 million shares at a maximum price of up to P3.27 per share.

The offering period will run July 22 to 26 ahead of the targeted listing on the PSE’s main board in early August.  The offering price will be finalized on July 10.

This transaction will put 30 percent of Harbor Star’s shares in public hands and post-IPO market capitalization is estimated at P1.98 billion.

Harbor Star has mandated Abacus Capital & Investment Corp. as issue manager and lead underwriter for this transaction.

Proceeds are expected to be disbursed as follows: acquisition of tugboats for domestic and international expansion and refleeting (P227.4 million), acquisition of barges or tug and barge pairs for lighterage operations (P120 million), settlement of the bridge loan for the purchase of vessels (P120 million) and debt retirement (73.4 million).  All these expenditures are targeted to happen by the third quarter of this year.

Harbor Star, which opened for business in 1998, operates a fleet of 27 tugboats in various major ports throughout the Philippines. The company’s tugboats are deployed for ship salvaging, wreck removal, fire-fighting, oil spill abatement and recovery, handling of hazardous chemical, deep sea towing and diving and underwater searches.

The tugboats, which are operated in the ports of Bataan, Batangas, Quezon, Cebu, Dipolog, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bohol, Leyte and Davao, are also used to transport products such as oil, petroleum and mineral products from large deep-water vessels to smaller vessels.