Stock investors who bet in the initial public offering of mobile technology firm Xurpas Inc. saw their investments more than double in December. An investment magazine based in Hong Kong took notice and made Xurpas a recipient of its annual awards.
For rising by 135 percent from the IPO price of P3.97 on Dec. 2 to P9.35 as of end-2014, Xurpas was cited as the best small cap equity deal in the Philippines by Alpha Southeast Asia in the annual Best Deal and Solution Awards 2014.
Xurpas beat DoubleDragon Properties Inc. of Injap Investments Inc. chairman Edgar Sia II and Honeystar Holdings Corp. chairman Tony Tan Caktiong, which was also one of the successful IPOs last year.
Xurpas president Nix Nolledo said the company initially wanted to price its offering aggressively, but decided to award its investors with a “good profit” from the offering. As a result, Xurpas’ offering was oversubscribed six times and emerged as the one of the most successful local listings in 2014.
The stock rose further this year, closing at P12.28 on Jan. 30, up by over 200 percent from the IPO price. This means the IPO investors have trebled their money (by paper) in just two months, if they have not unloaded their Xurpas stocks yet.
“We are glad to receive a citation as early as the first two months of our life as a traded firm. The capital raised from our IPO puts us in an enviable position to take advantage of the growing technology opportunities in the Philippines and the region,” Nolledo said.