Philab defers offering

MANILA, Philippines - Philab Holdings Corp., the newly-listed supplier of health kits to the government, has decided to postpone its planned follow-on offering to 2018 after its underwriter sought for more time.

The company, formerly Alterra Capital Partners Inc. recently mandated China Bank Capital Corp. to replace Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. (PCCI) as the underwriter of the company.

“As underwriter, China Bank Capital has requested for sufficient time to conduct their due diligence on the company,” Philab said.

The company had planned to raise P3.4 billion from the share sale of 500 million common shares.

Aside from this, the company said the launch of such a follow-on offering may not be the best course of action for the company.

“Instead, the company will benefit from this period by consolidating its business lines and prospects,” Philab said.

“Therefore, the company has decided to defer the follow-on offering to a later time and, accordingly, withdraw its listing application with the PSE without prejudice to a possible re-filing by the company of such application in 2018,” it said.

Philab is a pioneering and leading Philippine supplier of life science equipment to healthcare, pharma, and other industries for almost six decades. It is now evolving as a first-mover in the Philippines in the area of affordable healthcare equipment.

For instance, the company provided the Department of Health with affordable in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test kits that can detect the dengue virus. In the coming weeks, Philab plans to launch its LABit Dengue Fever Self-test Kit to enable users to perform a self-test in their own homes.

 Philab is also developing additional testing products, such as Zika virus test kits, which it expects to have strong demand in the Philippines while also opening opportunities for overseas expansion throughout Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.

 The company is headed by Tom Navasero, CEO and president of Philab. He is credited for spearheading the establishment and operations of Genomics Institute of Asia (GINA).

Through a partnership with GINA, Philab is the first company in the Philippines to own and operate a genomic sequencing facility, offering full genome sequencing and molecular diagnostics for research and medical purposes.

Last year, Navasero acquired 67 percent of Alterra Capital.