Sia’s retail unit to proceed with P 1.6-B IPO

The opening of MerryMart’s store in AyalaMalls Manila Bay in January 2020

Retailer Merry Mart Consumer Corp., led by young tycoon Edgar Sia II, is poised to be the first company to brave the local stock market this turbulent year even as the COVID-19 pandemic takes a heavy toll on the global economy.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has approved the P1.6-billion initial public offering (IPO) of MerryMart and its debut on the small, medium and emerging (SME) board.

The IPO application was approved during the PSE’s board meeting last week, PSE chair Jose Pardo confirmed in a text message on Monday. But instead of the main board, MerryMart was cleared to list on the SME board, Pardo added.

“We are okay to proceed with the MerryMart IPO since MerryMart is in the COVID-19 pandemic-resilient nondiscretionary basic essential retail category,” said Sia, who chairs MerryMart.

“We are confident that this MerryMart IPO will provide both the retail and institutional investors an opportunity to be able to invest and spread their portfolio in a resilient sector and also enable them to invest at an early stage of MerryMart’s planned hyper growth in the coming years,” Sia said.

Based on the latest timetable proposed to the PSE, Merrymart intends to finalize its IPO price on May 22 and run the retail offering from May 27 to June 5, subject to receipt of a permit to sell from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company plans to list under the ticker “MM” on June 15.

Merrymart plans to sell as much as 1.59 billion primary common shares at a maximum price of P1 each, with PNB Capital and Investment Corp. appointed as the lead underwriter, issue manager and bookrunner. INQ