Travellers revives IPO plan

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., operator of Resorts World Manila (in photo) has revived plans to make its debut on the local stock market. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Resorts World Manila operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. has revived plans to make its debut on the local stock market but it may reduce the initial public offering size to between $450 million and $480 million due to volatility of the financial market.

Travellers, a partnership between the Alliance Global Group led by property tycoon Andrew Tan and the Genting group of Malaysia, earlier obtained the Philippine Stock Exchange’s approval for an IPO worth as much as $1 billion.

Industry sources familiar with the planned offering said Thursday that Travellers was preparing to proceed with its IPO “very soon” after postponing this capital-raising activity in July over worries about the impact of the tapering of the US Federal Reserve’s $85-billion monthly bond buying activities. The market was expecting the Fed to start the tapering process in September but the US central bank announced last week it would keep the stimulus for now.

The gaming firm was originally planning to offer to the public up to 1.573 billion new common shares for as much as P23.38 per share. There was also an over-allotment option of 235.98 million shares.

Industry sources said Travellers was willing to lower the offering price and raise a much smaller amount. The latest estimated range of $450 million to $480 million takes into account a narrowing window to proceed with the IPO, said one source. Another source said the size might still depend on market conditions but added that the company would not go lower than $400 million.

The market’s sharp recovery last week has given issuers like Travellers the impetus to launch their IPO plans soon.

Travellers has tapped five international houses to arrange the IPO: UBS, BoFA Merrill Lynch, CIMB, Maybank ATR Kim Eng and Religare Capital.

Resorts World Manila is the first integrated leisure and resort property in the Philippines that combines privately operated gaming facilities with hotel, retail, dining, entertainment and other leisure amenities. It currently houses Maxims Hotel, Marriott Hotel Manila, Remington Hotel and the Newport Performing Arts Theater.