Death care firm shares sizzle on PSE listing

Shares of Villar family-led death care service provider Golden Haven Memorial Park sizzled on inaugural trading at the local stock exchange Wednesday as investors bought into a business that—as a demographic certainty—never runs out of clients.

Golden Haven’s shares surged 49.9 percent to close at P15.74 each from the initial public offering (IPO) price of P10.50 apiece. It was the second most actively traded company at the Philippine Stock Exchange with about P491.4 million worth of shares changing hands.

The company raised P778 million from the offering and brought 15 percent of its shares to public hands. Based on Wednesday’s trades, it ended with a market capitalization of P5.2 billion.

“Today, Golden Haven marks another milestone as the first memorial park or death care business to list on the PSE’s main board. A good memorial park and death care provider allows us to continue this tradition,” said PSE chair Jose Pardo in  his welcome remarks during the listing ceremony. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla