Manila-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) raised P8.19 billion (US$200 million) for general corporate purposes in a recent placement of 90 million shares to overseas and local institutional investors.
The shares consisted of 36.89 million treasury shares and 53.11 million common shares borrowed from ICTSI chairman Enrique K. Razon. The shares were offered at P91 each, a 9% discount to the stock’s closing price of P99.95 on May 14.
The offer price was determined based on the company’s market price and bookbuilding by its placement agents, Swiss investment banks CLSA Limited and UBS AG.
The company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its directors approved the share sale in a board meeting on May 14.
ICTSI said it will replace the shares borrowed from Razon through a subscription transaction in which the group’s chairman will subscribe to 53.11 million of the company’s authorized and unissued shares, subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The shares were offered to investors abroad, including qualified institutional investors in the United States, as well as to qualified buyers and fewer than 20 non-qualified buyers in the Philippines under the Securities Regulation Code.
ICTSI said it will use the funds for its general corporate purposes, which may include funding of committed capital expenditures. Funds raised are expected to boost ICTSI’s war chest as it looks for possible acquisitions here and abroad.
ICTSI has been shortlisted for the bidding of the Melbourne Port, along with Asian tycoon Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Port Holdings, French container shipping company CMA CGM and Australian-based logistics service provider Qube Holdings.
Razon earlier said capex for the year will reach $500 million, higher than last year’s $465.6 million, which will be the last huge capital outlay of the company that will go to its Latin American operation.
