Maynilad IPO seen animating Philippine equities
The upcoming stock market debut of Maynilad Water Services Inc. is seen to jolt life into the lethargic equity capital market, according to Security Bank Capital Investment Corp.
Margaux Lee, head of coverage and origination at SB Capital, on Wednesday told reporters Maynilad’s initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed among institutional investors. This, notwithstanding corruption issues plaguing the domestic political landscape.
“We see that there’s still a lot of interest, especially from foreign investors,” Lee said during a press briefing.
She was referring to International Finance Corp. and Asian Development Bank. Respectively, the two institutions pitched in $100 million and $145 million into Maynilad’s IPO.
Lee added that Maynilad’s offering was likewise seen to perform well in the secondary market.
SB Capital was tapped as one of the domestic colead underwriters of Maynilad’s P34.33-billion IPO. It represents the country’s biggest stock market debut since Monde Nissin Corp.’s P48.6 billion in 2021.
SB Capital president and CEO Virgilio Chua said investors would likely gauge the performance of Maynilad post-IPO before deciding whether to come back to equities.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index has lately been struggling to break through the elusive 6,100 barrier.
