Maynilad pushes for 2025 bourse debut
Maynilad Water Services Inc. is hoping to pursue its stock market debut this year or ahead of the deadline under its agreement with the national government, as the company continues talks with its financial advisors.
Maynilad chair Manuel Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines’ inauguration of new officers on Wednesday that the company was “busy talking to banks already,” and that they aimed to conduct the initial public offering (IPO) “this year or latest next year.”
Under Maynilad’s concession agreement with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, it needs to offer at least 30 percent of its shares to the public on or before January 2027.
Maynilad’s concession covers the western part of Metro Manila as well as Cavite province. Its East Zone counterpart, Manila Water Co. Inc., debuted in the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2005.
Maynilad, the country’s largest private water concessionaire in terms of customer base, earlier said it was banking on foreign investors to chip in during the IPO, as it was a “major listing that will not be funded only by local investors.”
Ramoncito Fernandez, Maynilad president and CEO, last year disclosed that they had appointed HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS as financial advisors for the company’s listing.
Although Maynilad has yet to put a price on its IPO, Bloomberg previously quoted sources as saying that it could raise up to $1 billion.
Fernandez earlier said talks with current stockholders about equal dilution, or the agreement among parties that equity ownership would be decreased fairly among themselves once additional shares are offered to the public, have yet to begin.
Maynilad is jointly owned by Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Consunji family-led DMCI Holdings Inc. and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp.
Marubeni, which has interests in several other ventures in the Philippines, currently holds a 21.54-percent stake in Maynilad.
Fernandez also said they were considering other fundraising activities, including debt and equity structures, to bankroll their capital expenditure worth up to P160 billion.
