Travellers Int’l makes stock market debut

MANILA, Philippines - Travellers International Hotel Group, the operator of Resorts World Manila,  ended slightly down on its market debut yesterday amid lackluster trading with investors weighing mixed economic data releases from around the world.

Shares of Travellers, a joint venture between casino operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd. and tycoon Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., hit a high of P11.46 before closing at P11.26 each share or 0.18 percent lower than the initial public offering price of P11.28.

A total of 222.7 million shares, valued at P2.52 billion, changed hands yesterday.

Travellers raised P17.7 billion  million from the maiden offering of 1.57 billion shares, excluding a greenshoe option of approximately 236 million shares.   The company priced its IPO at P11.28 per share or at the middle of the indicative range of P10.65 and P11.88 apiece.

The international tranche was covered on the first day of book-building and was five times oversubscribed, with over 100 institutional investors from Asia, Europe and the United States.

The local tranche, on the other hand, was 15 to 16 times oversubscribed.

“The success of the IPO demonstrates the global investment community’s belief in the Philippine tourism and entertainment sector and in particular, Travellers, as the vehicle to take on the strong macroeconomic growth potential of the Philippines,” said Travellers president Kingson Sian.

Sian said proceeds from the offering will be used to partly fund the $650 million expansion of the Resorts World complex in the 11.5-hectare Newport City in Pasay City, which will provide an additional 1,100 hotel rooms. The expansion will also double the number of tables and slot machines at Resorts World.

Sian said the company remains upbeat on its prospects and believes that competition will be healthy among the gaming proponents as they help promote the Philippines as a tourism and gaming hub.