More Asian Companies Are Using IPO Proceeds to Pare Debt
More Asian Companies Are Using IPO Proceeds to Pare Debt
(Bloomberg) -- Metro Pacific Investments Corp. plans to use most of its proceeds from the biggest-ever Philippine initial public offering to repay debt. The company could receive as much as $1 billion from the listing of its unit Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc.
Metro Pacific’s deleveraging plan came on the heels of the world’s biggest IPOs this year. Budweiser Brewing Co. is using the $5 billion proceeds of its Hong Kong IPO to repay debt, according to a listing prospectus. Blackstone-backed Embassy Office Parks REIT, which raised $689 million through an Indian IPO in March, also used most of the money to cut debt.
In contrast, growth and expansion topped the use of proceeds for large Asian IPOs last year. None of the 13 billion-dollar IPO issuers in 2018 said debt repayment was the major use of proceeds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Metro Pacific and its subsidiaries hold $4.73 billion in debt, after the company amassed toll road, power, water and hospital assets. At the top end of the hospital unit’s IPO price range, the sale would raise $1.6 billion and Metro Pacific would get about 60% of the proceeds from selling down its stake. The hospital would get about $125 million for expansion.
While Budweiser said its IPO is primarily for deleveraging, the proceeds can be used for acquisitions, Jefferies analysts Edward Mundy and Elsa Hannar wrote in note last month.
UPCOMING LISTINGS:
- Topsports International Holdings
- Hong Kong exchange
- Pricing expected Oct. 2; listing expected Oct. 10
- Size up to $1.7b
- Bank of America, Morgan Stanley
- Asset World
- Thailand exchange
- Size $1.3b
- Property arm of billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi
- Listing expected Oct. 10
- BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS
- Lotte REIT
- Korea stock exchange
- Size up to 429.9b won
- Pricing Oct. 7
- Korea Investment, Nomura, HSBC
- Home Credit
- Hong Kong exchange
- Consumer finance unit of Czech billionaire Petr Kellner’s PPF Group
- Premarketing started Sept. 2
- Citi, HSBC, Morgan Stanley
- Bank of Guizhou
- Hong Kong exchange
- Size up to $1b
- ABC International, CCB International, CLSA
- AllHome
- Philippines stock exchange
- Size $285m
- Expected listing Oct. 10
- Owned by billionaire Manuel Villar
More ECM situations we are following:
- Lendlease Global Commercial REIT rises as much as 7.4% in trading debut, after the IPO was priced at S$0.88
- Indonesian oil and gas services firm Ginting Jaya Energi seeks to sell 750m shares at 375-450 rupiah in IPO
- Koreacenter.com which operates international shipping support company Malltail sets IPO price range at 24,000-27,200 won/share, seeking to Raise 61.1b-69.2b Won
- JS Global Lifestyle Co. Ltd. starts gauging investor demand from Oct. 2 to 11 for its Hong Kong IPO
- Investor concerns around SoftBank Group’s unicorn company WeWork and balance sheet strength of telecom companies may hinder Asia communication services share performance
- China is set to see the first dual-class listing in the domestic market, as the nation aims to stem an exodus of technology firms seeking listings overseas
SEE ALSO
- Asia ECM Weekly Agenda
- IPO data
- U.S. ECM Watch
- EU ECM Watch
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To contact the reporter on this story: Fox Hu in Hong Kong at fhu7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Teo Chian Wei
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