Travellers a long-term stock play, says exec

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., which operates the Resorts World Manila gaming complex in Pasay City, declined on its first day of trading on Tuesday as the broader stock exchange index also fell.

Travellers, jointly owned by the group of Filipino tycoon Andrew Tan and Malaysia’s Genting Group, closed down 0.02 percent to P11.26 a share. It offered shares at P11.28 each in an initial public offering that was met with excess demand estimated at about five times for the international tranche and about 15 times locally.

At that price, the company was valued at about 13.6 times earnings for 2014, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Travellers opened at P11.38 a share on Tuesday and gained as much as 1.6 percent earlier in the session.

Travellers chair David Chua Ming Huat said the company was a long-term play, likening conditions to that of a “Goldilocks economy.”

“Not too hot, not too cold. We still have 21 years left in our concession and the IPO process is just the first step,” he told reporters in a briefing after the listing, as the stock hovered just above its offer price. “We look at it not as a stock market play but tapping the capital markets and longer term, building the value to last for the next 21 years of the concession.”

It raised P20.4 billion, assuming the exercise of an over-allotment option, through the sale of primary shares with proceeds seen to fund new phases of Resorts World Manila, including hotels and gaming tables.

Eagle Equities Inc. president Joseph Roxas said the prevailing poor market sentiment affected Travellers’ debut. The benchmark stock exchange index dipped 0.36 percent.—Miguel R. Camus