Tambunting Financial Services postpones IPO

The initial public offering (IPO) of TFS Inc. or Tambunting Financial Services will not push through next week as the company has advised the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) of a postponement "due to existing conditions in the market."

Instead, the company rescheduled the IPO for the fourth quarter of this year or early next year. However, the matter of the postponement will still be elevated to the PSE’s Listing Committee and the board of directors for their appropriate actions.

TFS plans to offer 30 million new unclassified common shares, representing 30 percent of the company’s total issued and outstanding stocks, at a price of P1.05 each. The company will use the net proceeds of P26.78 million from the offering to expand the loan facility of its existing branches and to finance the acquisition of new branches to address market needs.

The IPO, with Keppel IVI Investments Inc. as issue manager and underwriter, was scheduled to start on March 18, with the listing date tentatively set on April 10.

While TFS attributed the "existing conditions" in the market as the reason for the delay, sources said a brewing feud among the company’s owners, particularly the Tambunting family, has made matters worse.

TFS spun off from the Tambunting Pawnshop network founded in 1906 in Manila by the late Ildefonso Tan Bunting. By 1992, the business had grown to 300 branches, but at the same time, a decision was made to divide, on an equal basis, the network of the Tambunting Pawnshops among the family members.

TFS, with Antonio Tambunting as chairman and CEO, has a total of 50 branches nationwide. – Conrado M. Diaz