SEC approves Medilines IPO and Sta. Lucia Land FOO

Adding to the list of recent approvals, the SEC approved the Medilines Distributors [MD 2.45 pre-IPO] plan to sell up to 825 million shares at P2.45/share, to raise just over P2 billion for the company and its owner, Virgilio Villar (Manny’s brother).

The proposed timeline was re-confirmed, with the MD offer period lasting from November 11 to 17, and the MD IPO happening on November 25.

The SEC also approved Sta. Lucia Land’s [SLI 2.88 ?0.69%] follow-on offering (FOO), which seeks to sell up to 3 billion common shares at a price between P2.38 and P3.29, with the SLI FOO offer period lasting from November 10 to 19, and the SLI FOO listing happening on November 26 (these SLI dates are now added to the Market Calendar).

MB BOTTOM-LINE

Nothing has changed about my take on the MD IPO, which is that just 27% of the money raised will actually go to building MD’s business: the rest goes to Virgilio Villar’s pocket, and to paying down MD’s debt.

That makes the IPO feel like more of a cash-out than a cash-up. At least if MD were cashing-up, investors would have something to look forward to beyond the first day of trading.

Perhaps there’s an angle of this growth story that I’m missing. PNB Capital seems pumped about our first “first pure-play healthcare IPO”, but maybe we should take their excitement with a grain of salt considering their vested interest in the sale of the shares as the sole issue manager, lead underwriter, and sole bookrunner for the MD IPO.  

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