Sta. Lucia defers P8.4-B follow-on offering

Property developer Sta. Lucia Land Inc. (SLI) has deferred a follow-on offering or re-initial public offering of shares worth P8.4 billion, citing “volatile” market conditions.

The decision to defer the FOO was made after further consideration and extensive discussions between SLI and China Bank Capital, issue manager, underwriter and bookrunner, SLI disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Tuesday.

“The decision to defer the FOO is primarily due to current market conditions, which have been volatile,” it said.

The 23-year-old property developer filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August a prospectus for the offering of up to 2.7 billion primary shares plus an extra allotment of up to 300 million shares in case of excess demand.

The shares were intended to be offered for at least P2.26 to as much as P2.80 per share and listed on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The fresh capital was to be used to fund capital expenditures for ongoing projects, strategic land banking and other general corporate purposes. SLI will not use any of it to repay debt.

The offering was to bring to public hands 26.79 percent of SLI’s shares after the FOO.

SLI, which is led by businessman Exequiel Robles, became a public company through the backdoor-listing route in 2007. It is currently valued by the stock market at about P22 billion.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA