JTH Davies to raise P4.5B from share offer

JTH Davies Holdings Inc., recently transformed into a vehicle for the Tanco group’s education assets, plans to raise as much as P4.5 billion from a follow-on public equity offering.

JTH—soon to be renamed STI Holdings Inc. as it now holds education assets such as STI Education Services Group and Philippine Women’s University—plans to sell as much as 3 billion new primary common shares at a maximum price of P1.50 per share by November, said a source privy to the offering.

The company’s share price slumped by 2.94 percent to close at P1.98 per share on Wednesday as the market anticipated a follow-on offering at a discount to current market prices and the consequent dilution.

Based on Wednesday’s close, JTH had a market capitalization of P2.25 billion.

A registration statement was scheduled to be filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday. The offering is targeted to be completed before the year’s end, a company spokesperson said.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange earlier on Wednesday, JTH announced that it had mandated investment bank UBS to be the sole international bookrunner and lead manager for this offering.