3 high-profile IPOs won’t take place this year

MANILA, Philippines —  Three high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs) will not happen this year due to unfavorable market conditions.

The highly anticipated IPOs of Enrique Razon’s Prime Infrastructure, SM Prime’s real estate investment trust (REIT) and Ayala-backed e-wallet pioneer GCash have all been deferred and are unlikely to take place this year.

In a recent interview with ANC, Prime Infra president and CEO Guillaume Lucci said the company’s planned IPO is probably unlikely in the medium-term.

Lucci said there is no new timeline, noting that there’s not even certainty of an IPO.

“You know, there are many different ways to raise capital so we’re evaluating all the available options. We live in a very uncertain world. Look at what’s happened to share prices with the Russia and Ukraine war and look at what’s happening now in Iran, between Iran and Israel. That, combined with a very unpredictable rate market, it’s very difficult to decide what the best path forward is to raise capital,” Lucci said.

“The public markets are not the only solution to that. We’re evaluating all available options and we’ll make the right decisions in due time,” he said.

Prime Infra filed for a P28.19 billion IPO back in 2022.

The company had already started wooing investors through an anchor roadshow in September 2022, which was well received by investors, but the prevailing market volatility then prompted the company to move the IPO.

Sy-led integrated property developer SM Prime, for its part, is keeping a “wait and see” stance for its earlier planned $1 billion REIT listing.Given the interest rate environment and the market volatility, the company has decided to postpone the IPO this year.

The IPO of GCash, meanwhile, could still be more than a year away from taking place, according to Ayala Corp. president and CEO Cezar Consing.

“I think it’s probably 12, 18 months out there,” Consing said.

“But it’s something they have to think about because they have already created so much value and they have shareholders there that might want some liquidity. So that’s under study now,” Consing said.

GCash is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.), the first and only duacorn in the Philippines.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is expecting six companies to go public this year, double from last year’s three IPOs.

In 2022, the PSE had nine IPOs, the most number of IPOs in a single year since 2007.

China Bank Capital Corp. managing director Juan Paolo Colet told The STAR that only OceanaGold Philippines and Citicore Renewable Energy appear to be moving forward with sizable IPOs so far.

“Unless market conditions improve significantly, we do not expect big names to push through with their IPOs this year,” he said.

Colet said equity market conditions remain challenging due to tight monetary policy.

“When we started the year, the predominant view was that interest rate cuts would boost the local stock market and encourage domestic IPOs. However, persistent inflation has created a lot of uncertainty on the path of policy rates, and there is even a risk that borrowing costs will remain elevated for longer than current expectations,” Colet said.