Gweilo revives IPO plan

BAR-RESTAURANT operator Gweilo Corp., operator of Mario’s Kitchen and Gweilo outlets, has rekindled its plan to debut on the local stock market.

Gweilo has submitted an amended prospectus to raise P125 million from an initial public offering (IPO). This is bigger than the P95 million offering submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2014.

Based on the new prospectus dated Sept. 19 submitted to the SEC, Gweilo plans to sell 125 million primary common shares at P1 per share to be listed on the small, medium and emerging board of the PSE.

The company has tapped investment house Asian Alliance Investment Corp. as its issue manager and underwriter. The exercise will bring 38 percent of the company’s stock to public hands.

Gweilo plans to use proceeds from the offering to expand Mario’s Kitchen and Stackers Burger, invest in franchising trade shows for Mario’s Kitchen, set up a commissary, implement a unified management information system as well as fund research and development and working capital.