Concepcion Industrial plans to list in local bourse

MANILA, Philippines - Two more local firms have bared plans to go public this year to raise a combined amount of roughly P5 billion amid the recovery in the local stock market.

Appliance maker Concepcion Industrial Corp. and upstream petroleum firm Frontier Oil Corp. are seeking regulatory approval for a P2.711-billion and P2.209-billion initial public offering (IPO), respectively.

Concepcion Industrial, one of the Philippines’ leading suppliers of air conditioning solutions and refrigerators and consumer appliance products, plans to sell as much as 74.96 million shares at a maximum offer price of P31.45 each.

Including the over-allotment option of up to 11.24 million shares, the company stands to generate as much as P2.711 billion in fresh capital.

Proceeds from the IPO will fund the working capital and startup costs on a potential joint venture with Midea to expand the company’s products to other electrical home appliances, the company said.

“Building on its competitive strengths, the company seeks to implement the [several] strategies, in part by becoming the leading provider of consumer appliance durable goods and building solutions in the Philippines,” it added.

The appliance maker, which operates through subsidiaries Concepcion Carrier Airconditioning Co. and Concepcion Durables Inc., hired Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. as its domestic lead underwriter.

In the first half this year, profits of Concepcion Industrial rose eight percent to P409.3 million from P377.5 million a year ago while net sales jumped 10 percent to P3.76 billion from P3.4 billion.

For its part, Frontier Oil plans to sell up to 883.62 million common shares at an offer price of up to P2.50 a piece, or a total IPO value of P2.209 billion.

“The net proceeds from the offer...will be used by the company mainly for capital expenditure requirements related to the development of its Service Contracts (SC) 50 and 52 as well as for general corporate purposes,” Frontier Oil said.