Harbor Star defers IPO

MANILA, Philippines—Tugboat operator Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. has deferred P593-million initial public offering  to September in light of current volatility in the stock market.

The Philippine Stock Exchange said in a July 10 memorandum that Harbor Star believed that “current market conditions are less than ideal to undertake and launch the offering.”

Harbor Star would have been the first company to brave the IPO scene since the recent global market volatility triggered by the US Federal Reserve’s signal that it would taper the aggressive bond buyback activities meant to stimulate the world’s largest economy.

The company’s offering period was originally scheduled to run from July 22 to 26 and listing on the PSE on August 2.

After a consultation with its lead underwriter Abacus Capital & Investment Corp., Harbor Star said it’s “looking at a new offer period within September 2013.”

The PSE earlier approved Harbor Star’s offering up to 181.6 million shares at a maximum price of up to P3.27 per share. This transaction would  put 30 percent of its stock in public hands, with post-IPO market capitalization estimated to reach P1.98 billion.

Proceeds were 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 a  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 at various ports in 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 at 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 products and minerals  from large deep-water vessels to smaller vessels.