Maynilad Water Services Inc., the concessionaire for the west zone of Metro Manila, is finalizing plans to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange in the first half 2025.
Maynilad president and chief executive Ramoncito Fernandez told reporters it mandated three financial advisors including HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS to handle the deal.
“We are poised to list next year. Our target is to be prepared for two possible dates before the elections—April, or after the elections—July. So, our plan is to be push-button ready,” Fernandez said.
“We are now pushing our team to apply already by first quarter of next year,” he said.
Fernandez did not provide an estimate on how much the company plans to raise from the maiden offering, but the deal is expected to be one the largest in the country.
He said the company decided to explore possible listing by early next year to take advantage of expectations that overall market conditions would significantly improve next year.
Maynilad, based on its legislative franchise, is required to list on the local bourse not later than 2027.
Companies planning to list on the exchange are required to have a public float of not less than 20 percent.
Fernandez said it would sell both secondary and primary shares to help partially fund its capital expenditure for water and wastewater projects.
Maynilad earlier committed to spending P163 billion from 2023 to 2027. Of the total, around P101 billion would be allotted for water projects, while the rest would be for wastewater projects.
Maynilad is majority-owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Other major shareholders are Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and DMCI Holdings Inc.
Fernandez said that for the IPO, the company was pushing for equal dilution of all shareholders.
He said, however, Marubeni is sensitive to being diluted and that it intends to remain a shareholder of Maynilad even with the IPO.
“They [Marubeni] are the most sensitive actually in being diluted. They don’t want to dilute their board membership, and they want to consolidate their financials,” Fernandez said.
Maynilad raised P15 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate bonds in July.
