Robinsons Retail Group firms up P40-B IPO plan

MANILA, Philippines -  The Gokongwei family’s Robinsons Retail Group has firmed up its plan to raise as much as P40 billion through an initial public offering (IPO).

The company behind Robinsons supermarkets and department stores plans to conduct potentially one of the largest public share sale by a Philippine firm, said International Financing Review (IFR), a publication of Thomson Reuters.

IFR reported that Robinsons Retail Group targets to sell 461.9 million shares at a maximum price of P86.64 each to generate up to P40 billion in fresh capital.

Robinsons Retail’s listing application was not immediately available at the Securities and Exchange Commission

The retail group of property giant Robinsons Land Corp. claims to be the country’s second largest retailer, next only to SM Retail Inc. of the Philippines’ richest man Henry Sy. Robinsons Retail Group owns and operates 35 department stores and 73 supermarkets nationwide.

The IPO is scheduled in the third quarter, IFR said, adding that Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS were tapped to facilitate the offering.

The aggressive fundraising program, which comes at a time when the local stock market is being battered by massive foreign fund selling could be one of the largest share sale by a Filipino company.

In April, LT Group Inc. of taipan Lucio Tan raised a record P37.72 billion in a follow-on offering while SM Investments Corp. secured P28.75 billion during its IPO in 2005.

Since hitting its 31st record high for the year at 7,392.20 on May 15, benchmark the Philippine Stock Exchange index has since eased back to the 6,500 level as foreign funds book profits amid the economic recovery in US.

Robinsons Retail Group is under conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., which is also into budget airline (Cebu Pacific), banking (Robinsons Bank Corp.), petrochemicals (JG Summit Petrochemicals Corp.), and snacks and beverage (Universal Robina Corp.).