First Gen lowers IPO price range
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Cecille YapXFN-Asia
(UPDATE) ELECTRICITY producer First Gen Corp. has revised the price range for its upcoming initial public offering to 51 to 62 pesos a share from 51 to 74 a share, its latest IPO prospectus showed.
The company, a unit of listed First Philippine Holdings Corp., intends to sell up to 344.93 million common shares to local and foreign investors from January 31 to February 6.
The final price will be set on January 27, following local and international roadshows that start Monday.
The listing on the local bourse has been tentatively set for February 10.
Company officials declined to explain the change in price range, but Philippine Stock Exchange president Francis Lim said he was the one who sought a lower price for First Gen's IPO.
"I specifically requested the company give the investing public a good price. It does not suggest that there is low demand," Lim told reporters after he attended an investor briefing, which was closed to media.
First Gen expects to raise a total of 11.2 billion pesos from the IPO, and intends to use this to upgrade existing facilities and expand capacity by acquiring power plants that state-owned National Power Corp. is putting on the auction block.
First Gen currently operates the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita natural gas-fired power plant, the 500-MW San Lorenzo gas-fired plant, and the 225-MW oil-fired Bauang plant.
First Gen's customers include affiliate Manila Electric Co. and in the first nine months of 2005 it posted net profit of 3.65 billion pesos down from 3.7 billion the year earlier.
(One dollar = 52.41 pesos)
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posted by philpower @ 8:13 AM,
