SEC greenlights Medilines IPO, Sta. Lucia FOO

MANILA, Philippines — Corporate regulators on Tuesday announced they approved two public offerings worth over P11 billion.

In a statement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it cleared Medilines Distributors Inc.’s P1.9-billion initial public offering and a follow-on offering by Sta. Lucia Land Inc. amounting to P9.55 billion.

Medilines plans to sell 550 million primary common shares at P2.45 each and 275 million secondary shares held by Virgilio Villar, brother of tycoon Manuel Villar Jr. and chairman of the company.

The medical equipment distributor expects to rake in P1.28 billion in net proceeds from the sale of the primary shares. Cash raised from the sale of secondary shares, which could amount to P641.2 million, will directly go to Villar and will not benefit Medilines.

Proceeds from the offer will be used to finance the company’s working capital for procurement of existing products and the build-up of its medical consumables inventory, as well as to repay debts.

The IPO is scheduled to run from November 11 to 17, in time for their debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange on November 25, based on the latest timetable submitted to the SEC.

Meanwhile, Sta. Lucia Land will offer to the public up to 2.5 billion common shares at an offer price ranging from P2.38 to P3.29 apiece. The listed property developer will sell up to 500 million more common shares if there’s robust investor appetite for the offer.

Net proceeds from the offer could reach up to P9.55 billion, assuming the oversubscription option is fully exercised. The company will use proceeds from the offer for capital expenditures of new and ongoing projects, payment of short-term debt, strategic land banking and general corporate purposes.

Sta. Lucia’s follow-on offering is slated to run from November 10 to 19, with the shares to be listed on the PSE on November 26. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral