Discovery World revives IPO plan

MANILA, Philippines - The company behind upscale resort hotel Discovery Shores Boracay is pushing through with its initial public offering (IPO), emptying the list of firms that previously deferred their share sale due to market volatility.

Discovery World Corp. will raise as much as P550 million, just half of the earlier targeted P1 billion proceeds, from the IPO next month, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said.

In a memorandum, the bourse said Discovery World, which earlier planned to sell stocks in August, will offer its shares on Nov. 8-14, to be followed by its listing on Nov. 21.

“Given the company’s decision to concentrate on the tourism business, the company will no longer pursue the investment in Enderun Colleges Inc.,” Discovery World said.

“It will also delay the development of Palawan Cove Corp. in light of the company’s acquisition of Euro-Pacific Resorts Inc.,” it added. Euro-Pacific owns and operates Club Paradise Resort in Dimakya Island in Coron, Palawan.

Hence, Discovery World reduced the offer size to 168 million shares from 306 million, with expected proceeds scaled down to P551 million from P1 billion.

The resort owner and operator retained its offer price at P3.28 per share, for a post-IPO market capitalization of P2.05 billion.

In August, Discovery World shelved its IPO as it awaited for the result of several business transactions. The PSE approved the listing plan of Discovery World in July.

Discovery World will be the third company of the Tiu family to be listed in the PSE. The Tiu family also owns i-Remit Inc. and TKC Steel Corp.

Abacus Capital & Investment Corp. will act as the issue manager and underwriter.