GT Capital advances 8.13% in PSE debut

MANILA, Philippines - GT Capital Holdings Inc., the flagship firm of taipan George S.K. Ty, posted an immediate gain in its debut yesterday at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), with the stock hitting P500 at the opening from its offer price of P455, before eventually settling at P492, for a 8.13 percent gain.

In the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the country, GT Capital publicly sold 47,399,890 shares, raising P21.6 billion for the Ty conglomerate.

According to Carmelo Bautista, president of GT Capital, part of the proceeds would be used to fund the group’s power and real estate projects.

Bautista told to The STAR that around P5 billion would be allocated for the planned power projects of Global Business Power Corp., while its real estate arm Federal Land would probably get around P8 billion for its various commercial, mixed-use and real estate projects.

According to Bautista, the funds raised from the IPO would also be used to consolidate and acquire some of the non-bank and non-financial assets of the Ty family and bring them into the books of GT Capital.

Taipan George S.K. Ty, in an interview with The STAR, expressed elation at the overwhelming response to the GT Capital offering with a 2.5 x domestic oversubscription and an even higher 5.6 x oversubscription for the foreign offering.

“We hope it will take off,” he said, crediting President Aquino’s handling of the economy.

“We are thankful to the President that the economy is now lifting off,” Ty said.

GT Capital’s five core businesses include it banking – Metropolitan Bank and Trust Corp., which is the largest bank in the Philippines in terms of assets; insurance arm, AXA Philippines; automotive manufacturing – Toyota Motors Philippines Corp., which has a 38 percent market share; power business - Global Power, and real estate – Federal Land.

In a separate interview, Global Power president Arthur N. Aguilar said the firm is planning to construct at least two new power plants with a capacity of 82 megawatts each.

The first project will be constructed in Toledo, Cebu.

Aguilar said that while an option has been signed for the second project, they are still scouting for a suitable location.

While Global Power is already well-established in the Visayas, Aguilar revealed that they are also interested in undertaking power projects in Mindanao which is currently experiencing a power crisis.

Jose Mari H. Banzon, executive vice president and general manager of Federal Land, for his part, clarified that the P8 billion planned allocation for the real estate firm would be spent over a number of years, with emphasis on commercial development projects.