Villar to start listing power, infra assets via P3.2-B IPO in November

Manuel Villar Jr.

Business magnate Manuel Villar Jr. plans to raise as much as P3.2 billion from the listing of a power unit in November, marking the second initial public offering (IPO) this year for the country’s richest man.

Premiere Island Power REIT Corp. (PremiereREIT), led by Villar’s son and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. CEO Manuel Paolo Villar, announced the filing of the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, according to a statement over the weekend.

A copy of the prospectus was not immediately available.

This comes after the property, retail and infrastructure billionaire raised P4.8 billion from the IPO of VistaREIT Inc. last June.

P2 per share

The public debut of PremiereREIT is the first time the group would list assets under Villar’s privately held power and infrastructure conglomerate, Prime Asset Ventures Inc., which also owns utility giant Prime Water and broadband firm Streamtech.

Based on the statement, PremiereREIT will offer up to 1.4 billion secondary shares at a maximum P2 per share, raising as much as P2.8 billion.

Another 210 million shares would be offered under an overallotment option, which would increase the offer size by P420 million.

PremiereREIT tapped China Bank Capital Corp. as sole issue manager and underwriter.

PremiereREIT is a real estate investment trust (REIT) with a portfolio consisting of “land, land rights, key power plant assets and other ancillary infrastructure” being leased to the REIT sponsors, S.I. Power Corp. (Sipcor) and Camotes Island Power Generation Corp. (Campcor).

Diversified REIT

The companies have a total generating capacity of 21.27 megawatts and a “weighted average lease expiry” of 9.24 years, the statement showed.

“PremiereREIT aims to be among the leading diversified power and infrastructure REITs in the Philippines in terms of portfolio, profitability, growth, sustainability and dividend yield,” the company said.

“In addition to venturing into the best-performing asset classes in the traditional energy sector providing social and missionary electrification in underserved areas, PremiereREIT plans to engage in greener, renewable and sustainable energy as part of ensuring different asset classes with continuous capital appreciation and social accountability,” it added.

The Villar Group’s other listed firms include AllDay Marts Inc., AllHome Corp., Golden MV Holdings, Vista Land and Vistamalls Inc.

Villar had previously disclosed plans to list Sipcor and renewable energy firm PAVI Green Renewable Energy Inc., highlighting the evolving nature of the group’s expansion priorities.

Last April, Villar also revealed his intention to take the eight-year-old Coffee Project chain public via an IPO in 2023. INQ