FMIC arranging 4 IPOs worth P50 B

MANILA, Philippines - The investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group is arranging four initial public offerings (IPO) expected to generate about P50 billion in fresh capital for the soon-to-be-listed firms.

Capital raising from the equities market will be robust particularly this year, said the top executive of First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC).

“This is going to be a record year for the Philippine equities market,” FMIC president Roberto Juanchito T. Dispo told reporters.

“We are the darling of foreign investors. We have strong economic fundamentals, strong corporate earnings and inflows of foreign funds,” he said, adding that foreign investors continue looking for higher yields in emerging markets like the Philippines.

FMIC is already working with four companies involved in the banking, property, oil and petroleum sectors.

The public share sale and listing of the four companies is estimated to raise P50 billion, Dispo said.

“We expect the third and fourth quarter to be very busy as far as IPOs and follow-on offerings are concerned,” Dispo said.

Last month, thrift lender Philippine Business Bank of the Yao family’s Zest-O Group raised P3.2 billion in the first IPO this year. FMIC was one of its underwriters.

Firms that earlier signified intentions to list in the local bourse include real estate developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp., RC Cola exclusive manufacturer and distributor Asiawide Refreshments Corp., energy firm Global Business Power Corp., upstream energy firm Frontier Oil Corp. and Asia United Bank.

As of end-February, the Philippine Stock Exchange index, the gauge of the local bourse’s performance, has recorded 22 all-time highs this year as it pierced the 6,700-mark to settle at 6,721.45.

The bellwether index recorded 38 all-time highs on its way to growing 33 percent and closing at 5,812.83 last year. It was the second-best performing benchmark index in Asia, next only to the 36.3 percent climb of Thailand’s SET index.