Eagle Cement building P12.5 B cement plant in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines -  Eagle Cement Corp., the cement company of tycoon Ramon Ang, is building a P12.5 billion cement plant in Cebu and will use part of the proceeds of its planned initial public offering (IPO) to finance the project.

The STAR reported on Thursday ECC’s planned IPO which is estimated to raise P9.2 billion.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to partially finance the construction of a two million metric ton capacity cement plant and its support facilities in Cebu.

The project will include the construction of a manufacturing plant, a distribution center and marine terminals in Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao regions. The project cost includes procurement of various construction related materials and services, as well as the purchase of the properties where the plant will be built on.

The completion of the Cebu cement plant will be financed through a combination of the net proceeds of the offer, debt funding and internally generated funds,” ECC said in its registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday.

Construction of the plant is expected to commence within the fourth quarter of the year and is targeted to be completed by the first quarter of 2020.

ECC plans to sell up to 575 million shares at a maximum price of P16 per share.

Pricing of the shares has been set on April 26 while listing is targeted on May 16. The offer period will run from May 2 to 9.

The company has tapped SB Capital Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and PNB Capital & Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint book runners.

ECC is a 100 percent Filipino-owned company born from the vision and passion of Ang, its chairman.

It is not affiliated with diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., where Ang is president and COO.

The company’s brands are Eagle Cement Advance and Eagle Cement Strongcem. It started commercial operations in 2010, with its main office located in Bgy. Wack Wack in Mandaluyong.

ECC will join the roster of companies seeking to do an IPO this year. These are Wilcon Depot (P7.9 billion), Cebu Landmaster (P3.8 billion), Audiowav (P2.7 billion), Pure Energy Holdings  (P1.5 billion), Xeleb (P736 million) and The Big Chill (P500 million to P600 million).