Medilines sets ₱2.30 per share for IPO

Photo from Medilines Website

MANILA, Philippines—Medical equipment distributor Medilines Distributors Inc. priced its initial public offering at P2.30 per share, finalizing the size of its stock market debut at close to P1.9 billion.

This marked a 6.12 discount from the P2.45 maximum offering price earlier indicated by the company, which is positioning itself as the first health-care pure player in the stock market.

Medilines is set to offer up to 550 million primary shares and up to 275 million secondary shares from November 22 to 26 this year, bringing 30 percent of its shares to public hands.

Tentative listing on the main board of the PSE under the ticker “MEDIC” is scheduled on Dec. 7.

Medilines is led by businessman Virgilio Villar, brother of real estate tycoon Manuel Villar Jr.

Proceeds from the offer will be used to finance Medilines’ working capital in relation to the procurement of existing products and the build-up of its medical consumables inventory, while the rest will be used to repay debt.

Founded in 2002, Medilines distributes medical equipment to both public and private healthcare facilities in the Philippines. Its portfolio, which includes equipment from multinational medical device companies, primarily caters to specialized medicine, including diagnostic imaging, dialysis and cancer therapy.

TSB