As bear takes center stage, Taiwan firm Cal-Comp defers public debut

With the local stock market entering bear territory, consumer electronics manufacturer Cal-Comp Technology (Philippines) Inc. has indefinitely postponed a P6.77-billion initial public offering.

Cal-Comp, a unit of Taiwan-based New Kinpo Group (NKG), recently obtained clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct its local stock market debut.

“While we are delighted with the SEC’s decision, we have decided to defer our IPO temporarily due to current market conditions and investor sentiment of the market,” the company said in a press statement on Wednesday.

“We believe that deferring our IPO will better realize the value of our company for our shareholders and for the investing public. We will resume our IPO at an appropriate time in the future depending on overall market conditions,” it added.

Despite this, Cal-Comp said its growth and expansion plans in the Philippines remained on track.

“We will continue to invest in the Philippines, bringing more business to [the] country, hiring and training more local talents, and introducing our innovative products to the Philippine market,” it said.

The NKG unit had planned to sell up to 397.97 million new common shares at a maximum price of P17 per share, bringing about 26.77 percent of the company’s shares into public hands.

The base offer consists of 378.07 million common shares but the company seeks an option to upsize the issuance by up to 19.9 million.

Proceeds from the IPO will be mainly used for facilities expansion, acquisition of new equipment and increased investment in research and development (R&D).

Cal-Comp is engaged in global electronic manufacturing services and original design manufacturing. It produces multiple product lines including external hard disk drives, TVs, all-in-one PCs, laser printers, smart home appliances, power supplies, 3D printers, innovative smart beauty mirrors, AI humanoid robots, and integrated circuits for cloud computing.