GT Capital, East West Bank to hold IPO in April

The local stock market will see two major initial public offerings with a combined value of up to P31.2 billion in April, representing sectors deemed good proxies to the economy—banking and conglomerates.

The Philippine Stock Exchange approved last week the proposed stock market debut of tycoon George Ty’s GT Capital Holdings (up to P24.6 billion) and the Gotianuns’ East West Bank (up to P6.6 billion), PSE president Hans Sicat said in a briefing on Friday.

Both companies will raise money from the local stock market in April with GT Capital to be the first to hold IPO this year. East West Bank will conduct its offering in April but the listing of its shares will be in May.

Assuming the IPOs were priced at the maximum level, the combined offering size of these two companies already represents about 16 percent of the PSE’s forecast of P197 billion worth of equity deals through the bourse this year.

GT Capital’s stock offering, which seeks to take advantage of the strong investor interest in conglomerates, will be composed of 41.217 million firm shares and an over-allotment option of 6.18 million shares. Of the total firm shares, 33 million will be primary shares and 8.22 million will be secondary shares.

The shares will be offered for a maximum price of P520 per share, suggesting a P21.43 billion equity deal, which can increase to P24.6 billion if the over-allotment option would be exercised. GT’s equity exercise can bring to public hands as much as 30 percent of its outstanding stock.

Based on a memorandum circular posted by the PSE, the domestic road show will start on March 21 while the book-building will end by April 2. The final price-setting for GT is scheduled on April 3. On the other hand, the domestic offering period will run from April 10 to 16 and the listing on the stock exchange is set for April 20.

East West Bank, for its part, is planning the sale of around 245.32 million common shares at a maximum price of P23.50 per share, translating to P5.76 billion in total proceeds. There will also be up to 36.8 million “optional” shares worth P864.8 million that the principal shareholders can sell in case of strong demand. This “over-allotment” option can raise the total equity deal to P6.63 billion.

The offer will consist of 141.06 million primary shares and 104.26 million secondary shares.

East West Bank, the first bank to list on the PSE in eight years, plans to start its road show and book-building by April 10 until April 18. Final price setting is on April 19.

The domestic offering will run from April 20 to 26 while the listing date is May 7.