Kepwealth Property Philippines Inc. on Friday priced its initial public offering at a high of P5.74 per share on strong demand received from investors during the book-building period.
Kepwealth president Edmundo Las said in a letter to the stock exchange the firm would offer 67,032 million primary shares to enable it to raise as much as P384.7 million in proceeds.
The offered shares will account for 33.34 percent of the company’s issued capital stock after the IPO.
Kepwealth set the offering period August 5 to 9, with the listing date scheduled on August 19. The shares will be listed under the Small, Medium and Emerging Board of the local exchange.
Kepwealth will have a market capitalization of P1.15 billion after the IPO.
Analysts said the company’s prospects and pent-up demand amid the dearth of IPOs resulted in strong interest for the stock. Kepwealth will be the first company to conduct a maiden share offering with the PSE this year.
BDO Capital and Investments Corp. is the sole underwriter of the offering.
Kepwealth plans to use net proceeds from the offering to diversify asset base and expand the office leasing portfolio with the acquisition of about 3,500 square meters of leasable space.
The property firm said it would allocate P245 million of the net proceeds to fund the acquisition of office spaces, mainly in Pasig City and Makati City, and P120 million in Davao City within the first to the second quarter of 2020.
The company owns 77 office condominium units with 98 leasable spaces in Kepwealth Center, a commercial building located at Samar Loop corner Cardinal Rosales Avenue, Cebu Business Park, Cebu City.
Upon completing the IPO-funded acquisitions, the company expects to own an estimated 18,121 square meters of leasable space.
Kepwealth was previously owned by Keppel Corp. of Singapore. Keppel divested its entire stake in Kepwealth to Euro Capital Land for P793.6 million ($15.5 million).
Euro Capital owns 12 percent of the company, while Crown Castle Holdings holds a 56.4-percent stake, while We Serve 24 Hours controls 25.6 percent.