Megawide secures SEC nod for P7B issuance

MANILA, Philippines–Construction and engineering group Megawide Construction Corp. has obtained the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise as much as P7 billion from the sale of preferred shares, boosting funds for its big-ticket infrastructure projects.

Based on a document from the SEC, Megawide was allowed to register and offer to the public 40 million in nonvoting perpetual preferred shares with an option to upsize with additional 30 million shares.

The preferred shares will be offered at a maximum price of P100 a share, allowing Megawide to raise at least P4 billion from this foray in the capital market. In case of strong demand, it can sell P3 billion in additional preferred shares.

Megawide has mandated BDO Capital, BPI Capital, First Metro Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank to arrange the offering and each of them has firmly committed to underwrite P1 billion.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to fund various infrastructure projects which Megawide bagged under the public-private partnership program.

Megawide, along with Indian firm GMR, won the hotly contested PPP bidding for the rehabilitation of the Mactan Cebu International Airport. It likewise bagged the P5.7-billion build-operate-transfer project for the Philippine Orthopedic Center, as well as two school infrastructure projects of the Department of Education.

The issuance of preferred shares, rather than outright equity, will allow Megawide to raise fresh funds for these big-ticket projects while better managing dilution, a company official said.–Doris C. Dumlao