MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga-based Dennis H. Uy’s Converge ICT has received the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to proceed with its P41.55-billion initial public offering.
In its meeting yesterday, the SEC en banc approved the registration statement of Converge, which covers 480.8 million shares for primary offering, 1.024 billion shares for secondary offering and an over allotment option covering 225.8 million shares, at a maximum price of P24 per piece.
From the primary offer, Converge expects to raise about P11.07 billion, which it plans to use for its nationwide expansion program.
Approximately 90 percent of the net proceeds will be used to fund capital expenditures for the purpose of accelerating its nationwide fiber network rollout, Converge said.
Uy, Converge founder, president and CEO, earlier said his goal was to have all the three major islands of the country – Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – connected under Converge’s system by early 2021.
Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte. and UBS AG Singapore branch will serve as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offer, together with Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd and Merrill Lynch (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. as international joint bookrunners.
Converge tapped BPI Capital Corp. as sole local coordinator and joint local underwriter and joint bookrunner with BDO Capital & Investment Corp.
Asia United Bank Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners, Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and RCBC Capital Corp. will also act as local participating underwriters.