Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. of the Gaisano family plans to attract cornerstone investors for a planned P6.17-billion initial public offering, according to one of the underwriters handling the transaction.
BPI Capital Corp. chief operating officer Reginaldo Cariaso said in a mobile message the company was in the process of finalizing plans to get anchor investors for the share sale slated next month.
“It’s still in progress. Can be cornerstone or anchor investors or both,” Cariaso said.
Cariaso did not say how much of the total offered shares would be earmarked to cornerstone investors.
Metro Retail is selling as much as 920 million common shares and another 92 million in overallotment shares at an offering price of up to P6.10 apiece
Metro Retail’s IPO was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. It is still awaiting approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Metro Retail plans to use the proceeds from the share sale to fund capital expenditures in connection with the establishment of new stores.
It also intends to acquire existing retail chains and put up a logistics and distribution center in Cebu.
Metro Retail plans open at least seven new stores in 2016 with a total gross floor area of 36,000 to 63,000 square meters, including a department store and supermarket in Bacolod under an arrangement with Ayala Land Inc. and a department store and a supermarket near the old Iloilo airport under a deal with Megaworld Corp.
Metro Retail stores have steadily grown to become a market leader in the Visayas after the opening the first outlet in Cebu City in 1982.
As of June 30, 2015, Metro Retail had a portfolio of 45 stores, with nine in Metro Manila, 10 in Luzon and 26 in Visayas, with a total net selling space of approximately 197,873 square meters.
According to Euromonitor, the company was the third largest supermarket operator, the third largest department store owner and the fourth largest hypermarket operator in the Philippines in terms of retail value sales in 2014.
Metro Retail registered net sales of P14.72 billion in the six months ending June 30, 2015, an increase of 14.3 percent from P12.88 billion recorded in the same period last year.
First-half net income amounted to P211.3 million, up 21.2 percent from P174.4 million in the six months ending June 30, 2014.