Datem shelves P4.66-B IPO plan

Construction firm Datem Inc. has deferred a P4.66-billion initial public offering on the local stock exchange which was scheduled to start next week.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Datem said it would schedule its IPO to a later date, without citing any reason.

Based on the approval given by the Philippine Stock Exchange, Datem would have held its offering on Nov. 24 to Dec. 1 and listing would have been on Dec. 8.

Datem is selling 329.05 million shares at a maximum price of P14.15.  The primary offer will consist of 257.51 million shares while secondary shares amounting to 28.62 million will also be offered. The over allotment option will consist of 42.92 million shares.

First Metro Investment Corp. and BPI Capital were mandated to arrange the offering. About 32.2 percent of the proceeds will be used to fund capital outlays for construction, including the purchase of construction equipment for high-rise projects, modernization, relocation and expansion of pre-cast plant facilities and equipment.

Another 28.9 percent of the proceeds will be used for land acquisition and construction activities of residential subsidiary Datem Homes Inc. while 10.6 percent will be used by subsidiary Datem Water Inc.

It intends to maintain a minimum annual dividend payout ratio of 15 percent of its audited consolidated net income in the preceding year.

In 2014, Datem posted a net income of P860 million out of P7.39 billion in revenue. In the first six months of 2015, net profit amounted to P138.28 million out of P3.8 billion in revenues. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla