Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc., the country’s leading death care development and services company owned by the Villar Group, is seeking to raise as much as P787 million through an initial public offering.
Golden Haven said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission it planned to offer as much as 74.117 million in primary common shares for up to P10.62 apiece.
The company hired Asian Alliance Investment Corp. as the issue manager and lead underwriter of the offering.
Golden Haven plans to use proceeds from the offering to finance acquisitions and growth strategies by expanding its existing death care facilities, products and services.
The Villar Group in 2015 announced that it planned to step up the expansion of Golden Haven by establishing a branch in at least 100 sites all over the country.
Golden Haven started operations in 1984 with the development of a two-hectare memorial park in Las Piñas.
It began an expansion by opening one in Cebu in 2003, followed later by Cagayan De Oro, Zamboanga, Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno in Las Piñas, Iloilo and Bulacan. It is also planning to open branches in Pampanga and Nueva Vizcaya.
Once listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Golden Haven will be third public company owned by the Villar Group.
The Villar family, led by business tycoon and former senate president Manuel Villar, owns integrated property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. and Starmalls Inc.
Aside from real estate and death care development, the Villar Group has investments in retail, water utility, mining, education and healthcare.
Villar, who lost in the 2010 presidential elections, was ranked the 1,367th billionaire in the recent Forbes’ annual list of world’s billionaires with total a net worth of $1.3 billion.
Vista Land’s net income in 2015 rose 14 precent to P7.2 billion on higher sales from residential and rental businesses.
The company’s 2015 financial performance included contribution from Starmalls, which became a subsidiary after its acquisition last year.
Vista Land president and chief executive Paolo Manuel Villar earlier said consolidated revenues increased 12 percent to P28.7 billion, as real estate sales increased 12 percent to P24.5 billion, while rental income surged 44 percent to P2.77 billion from P1.9 billion in 2014.
Vista Land aims to end 2016 with 850,000 square meters of malls space from the current 509,000 square meters to further expand its recurring business. The additional retail space will come from the opening of new malls and expansion of existing ones.
Golden Haven is the second company to file an IPO application with the SEC this year.
In March, CEMEX Holdings Philippines Inc., the local unit unit of Mexico’s Cemex S.A.B De C.V., filed a registration statement seeking to raise P39.74 billion from the public.
CEMEX Holdings plans to sell 2.337 billion common shares at an offering price of up to P17 apiece.
The PSE earlier targeted 10 IPO listings this year.
