2 IPOs on deck this month at bourse

Two initial public offerings (IPOs) with a combined worth of P154.4 million will test the waters at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) this month, kicking off their respective floats to finally end a six-month drought at the local bourse.

The PSE said information technology (IT) firm SQL*Wizard Inc. and property developer Primex Corp. have lined up their IPOs with gross proceeds of P7 million and P147.4 million, respectively.

According to the PSE, these new listings will hopefully pave the way for more IPOs this year as companies which have previously expressed interests in listing their shares resume their plans following the assumption of a new political administration focused on an economic reform agenda.

With the administration of President Estrada on shaky grounds since late last year due to the impeachment trial, and uncertainty over the recent national elections, some IPO plans were deferred until both the political and economic climate have stabilized.

The last time the PSE hosted an IPO was for the Lorenzo-controlled Pancake House Inc., which debuted last Dec. 15, 2000. Interestingly, the last three IPOs last year (Pancake House, its sister company Macondray Plastics and Corro Coat) were all warmly received by the market.

SQL*Wizard will start its offer period on July 9 and will tentatively list four million of its primary common shares on July 20 at P1.75 each. Primex Corp., meanwhile, will commence its offering on July 19 and list the 67 million secondary shares on Aug. 10, priced between P1.80 to P2.20 per share.

SQL*Wizard will have the distinction of being the first firm to be listed at the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) board of the PSE. Referred to as the Third Board, the SME Board was put up over a year ago to serve as a "nursery market" for young and small companies but with high potential for growth. However, the economic difficulties and the negative image created on the stock market by the BW Resources trading scandal last year effectively deterred the SMEs from going public.

Mid-sized real estate developer Primex Corp. was established in 1986 to engage in almost all aspects of the real estate business such as raw land acquisition, development, marketing, contract processing and signing, collecting and titling.

It has completed two projects: the Goldendale Village in Malabon and Richdale in Antipolo, Rizal. One other project, Goldendale II also in Malabon is almost 95 percent complete.

Primarily owned by the Ang family, the company is affiliated with Primex Land Inc., Primex Domain Inc., Omega Lumber Corp., Primex Realty Corp. and Primex Development Corp.

Last year, Primex earned almost P7.5 million from its operations, although this was down from P8.8 million in 1999.