Viva lowers IPO price

Film and entertainment provider Viva Communications Inc. has lowered the minimum price for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of shares to P8.10 per share from the previous P9.72 per share.

The company retained its maximum price offer at P12.93 each share.

 Viva chairman and chief executive officer Vic Del Rosario said the company “widened the price range to provide further flexibility in determining the offer price given current market conditions.”

 The company is offering to the public a total of 142.85 million shares.  The offering will run from Feb. 20-26 following a domestic roadshow that will kick off on Feb. 8.  Pricing for the shares will be known on Feb. 15 while the listing for the shares has been tentatively set on March 5.

Viva’s IPO was supposed to start last Jan. 14 but had to be postponed due to  weak market conditions

 Proceeds from the offering, which could reach up to P1.85 billion, will be used to improve the programming of the firm’s cable channels,  produce films and concerts and acquire foreign movies and equipment.

Other proceeds from the offering will be used for the digitization and restoration of its film library.

The company expects its net income to more than double in 2007, driven by higher sales from licensing overseas.

Viva intends to produce six films in the first quarter this year, two of which shall be co-produced with Star Cinema Productions with a budget of about P34 million per film.  For the other four films, the company has allotted around P21.5 million.

For the first half of 2008, Viva is setting aside P60 million for the production of 10 concerts and P20 million for training and development of its artists/talents.