Maynilad plans P49-B IPO this year

Concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. may launch the largest initial public offering (IPO) in Philippine history this year, with its stock market debut valued at around P49 billion.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, the company said its board of directors had approved plans to sell up to 2.46 billion common shares at as much as P20 each.

The IPO will consist of a base offer of up to 1.81 billion shares, with an overallotment option of up to 266.31 million shares in case of high demand. Maynilad may also upsize its offer by as much as 379.3 million shares.

Should the West Zone concessionaire’s IPO price reach the maximum amount, the value of its stock market debut will top record holder Monde Nissin Corp., which raised P48 billion in 2021.

Offer deadline

Maynilad president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez confirmed to reporters last week that they were “preparing so [the IPO] can be on push-button [mode] within this year, depending on different factors: macroeconomic and geopolitical.”

Maynilad, which is jointly owned by Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp., currently holds a concession agreement with the government through the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

Under this contract, Maynilad needs to offer at least 30 percent of its shares to the public on or before January 2027.

Its East Zone counterpart, Manila Water Co. Inc., listed in 2005.

While Maynilad still has more than a year before its deadline, Fernandez pointed out that a 2026 IPO might be “too tight.”

“If you understand our predicament, if we push it next year, we might be running out of options,” he said. “The sweet spot is this year.”

Maynilad earlier disclosed that it had already appointed HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS as financial advisors for its listing.

The company’s pursuit of a 2025 IPO also comes at a time when investors are struggling to remain optimistic, with the benchmark index already down by nearly 4 percent year-to-date due to trade war tensions in the West.

Still, Pamela Victoriano, senior vice president for investment banking at Unicapital Securities Inc., noted that the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) was “undervalued compared to regional peers, creating opportunities for investors.”

“With favorable market conditions, we anticipate more companies tapping the public markets in 2025,” Victoriano said in a recent statement.