Leading mass housing developer 8990 Holdings has applied for a follow-on offering of up to P26.6 billion, an equity deal that will allow Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and global investment firm TPG to bow out while raising new money for the company’s expansion plans.
8990 Holdings has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement to offer up to 1.4 billion common shares through a public offering at a maximum price of P18.99 per share.
“The company views the follow-on offering as a re-IPO (re-initial public offering) to re-introduce 8990 and share its story to international and local investors, increasing the public float and trading liquidity of the stock in the process. The offering includes a top-up component which is expected to generate fresh capital to contribute to the company’s growth,” said 8990 Holdings president & CEO Anthony Vincent Sotto.
About 1.25 billion of the offering will be shares currently held by existing investors TPG Rafter Holdings Ltd., Khazanah’s Pasir Salak Investments Ltd. and iHoldings Inc., with an overallotment option of up to 150 million common shares.
TPG and Khazanah were the cornerstone investors when 8990 Holdings first debuted on the local stock exchange in 2014 using a backdoor-listing vehicle. Such funds typically have an investment horizon of about seven years.
Time to pocket gains
Over the years, TPG and Pasir Salak “have provided strategic support to the company through their extensive experience in investing in housing and real property companies across the Asia-Pacific region and their long-term and growth-oriented investment approach,” the firm said.
But now that it is time for them to pocket gains, 8990 Holdings is bringing new investors through the re-IPO, the timetable for which will depend on regulatory approvals.
iHoldings is only selling about 450 million of its existing shares to raise P8.54 billion in new money for the company through a top-up scheme. It will later on subscribe to the same number of shares at the same offer price.
Based on 8990 Holdings’ prospectus, the company intends to use the net proceeds for the repayment of loan obligations. “These obligations may or may not be due and will make available credit lines for the company, which may be used for working capital, land banking and expansion plans,” it added.
The joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the offering are BofA Securities and JP Morgan. The company also mandated China Bank Capital Corp. and PNB Capital & Investment Corp. as joint domestic lead underwriters and joint bookrunners.