Sia bringing retailing unit MerryMart to public hands

Young tycoon Edgar “Injap” Sia II is bringing his new retailing business MerryMart Consumer Corp. to public hands this year, planning to raise as much as P1.6 billion to fund a nationwide expansion program.

Based on a preliminary prospectus filed on Monday at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Merrymart plans to sell as much as 1.59 billion primary common shares at a maximum price of P1 each.

The offering period is targeted on March 23 to March 27 this year while the listing date is targeted for April 2 this year. This will bring to public hands about 21 percent of the company’s shares after the offering.

PNB Capital and Investment Corp. was appointed lead underwriter, issue manger and bookrunner for the initial public offering.

MerryMart is targeting to roll out 1,200 branches nationwide and generate P120 billion in systemwide revenues by 2030. This retailing business is a wholly owned subsidiary of Injap Investments Inc., the same group that founded Mang Inasal Philippines Inc., and currently holds key shareholdings in DoubleDragon Properties Corp. in partnership with Honeystar Holdings Corp. of the Jollibee Group.

The company expects to operate a total of 27 branches by the second quarter this year. It expects to scale up to 100 branches by the fourth quarter of 2021 and 600 branches by 2025.

Meanwhile, the local stock barometer slipped on the first trading day of the Lunar New Year. The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 35.78 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,587.63 in thin trade.

The PSEi was weighed down most by the industrial counter, which fell by 1.38 percent. The holding firm and services counters also slipped. On the other hand, the financial, mining/oil and property counters firmed up.

Value turnover for the day amounted to about P4.3 billion. There were 119 decliners that overwhelmed 68 advancers.

The PSE was dragged down by Bloomberry, which lost 4.36 percent of its market cap, while Metro Pacific declined by 3.28 percent.

Meralco and RLC both slipped by over 2 percent, while PLDT, URC and Jollibee all declined by over 1 percent. INQ