Cirtek eyes public offer in 3rd quarter

Laguna-based semiconductor manufacturer Cirtek Electronics Corp. plans to debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange in the third quarter to raise funds for expansion.

Cirtek, owned by Taiwanese-Filipino businessman Jerry Liu, who also leads the Figaro Coffee and Angel’s pizza chain, has assigned BDO Investment and Capital Corp. to arrange the initial public offering.

In an interview, Cirtek senior director for sales and marketing Antonio Callueng said the company was in the process of filing its IPO application with the Securities and Exchange Commission but noted that the offering size had not been determined yet.

Callueng said the company would offer only primary shares, thereby raising fresh funds for its expansion program that will require as much as $20 million.

In its 26 years of operation, Callueng said the company had been consistently profitable, thus beating the three-year track record required for listing on the PSE.

He added that the company had grown over the years using equity and internally generated funds and had no need to borrow from banks.

Hoping to take advantage of robust opportunities in overseas markets, Callueng said Liu would be willing to cede around 30 percent ownership of his company to the public to fund future expansion.

With its factory in Laguna Technopark in Biñan operating at around 90 percent of capacity, Cirtek plans to expand its manufacturing facility.

Cirtek has two factory buildings in Laguna—one has 81,000 square feet in manufacturing space while the other occupies 71,000 square feet. The company plans to put up a third building, measuring 180,000 square feet, to make room for expansion in the next two years.

At the same time, plans are in place to acquire new equipment to cope with fast-changing demand for electronics.

Apart from raising fresh funds, Callueng said going public would “strengthen Cirtek’s branding in the international markets and allow it to bag more contracts.”

He also said that it would be a great time for a “well-run” company like Cirtek to go public and boost funds for expansion.

“We are bringing in a lot of opportunities to the Philippines. Right now our volume will be close to P1 billion this year. That means we will be shipping out close to one billion units of semiconductor devices this year,” Callueng said.

Cirtek currently has about 1,400 employees, who may increase by up to 15 percent this year based on the volume of new business to be generated by the company.