Air21 group plans public offering within 2 yrs
The Lina Group is mulling over a P2-billion to P5-billion initial public offering (IPO) in two years for its logistics business, which includes flagship company Air21, the exclusive licensee of American international courier service FedEx Corp., according to its chair.
Alberto Lina, a businessman and former Customs commissioner, told reporters last week that Air21 remained on expansion mode and plans to push through with a public debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) would depend on market conditions and financing needs.
Lina said there was demand for another logistics play on the PSE and they were already in talks with banks on how to best structure an IPO. “Everybody knows we are ripe for an IPO,” Lina said, while declining to give specific details.
The Air21 brand is also familiar to many Filipinos, and potential investors, outside the logistics business as the group also owns the Air21 Express team in the Philippine Basketball Association.
If the IPO pushes through, Air21, which was established 35 years ago, would join a niche group of Philippine-listed logistics providers, including 2GO Group Inc. Other Lina Group companies that could be included in the IPO are cargo warehousing subsidiary Cargohaus and U-Freight, Lina said.
The Lina Group, comprised of almost two dozen companies, also has businesses in food supply, communications and outsourcing.
Lina noted that debt financing still remained attractive, hence the multiyear leeway he was giving before giving a public offer the greenlight.
He noted that Air21 was specifically expanding as the company was establishing warehouses “all over the country” apart from acquiring new heavy-duty trucks. Lina said the group would need to spend about P500 million to P1 billion in two to three years to execute this plan.
Air21 delivers a wide range of services including door-to-door deliveries, land transfer services, warehouse management for inventories and ship transfer, its website showed.
Lina last week said his group was proposing to spend P100 million to P200 million to acquire German-made articulated bus units to support a government plan to decongest Metro Rail Transit Line-3 along Edsa.
Lina said they plan to charge passengers between P15 to P25 for a one-way end-to-end ride on Edsa. The proposal, once submitted formally, would be subject to regulatory approval.
