Construction and property firm Datem Inc. plans to push through with its P4.65-billion initial public offering in the second half of 2016, one the underwriters handling the deal said Wednesday.
First Metro Investments Corp. executive vice president Justino Juan Ocampo said Datem decided to defer the IPO to the second half of the year due to market volatility.
Datem earlier planned to hold the IPO in November but postponed the maiden share offering “due to the uncertainty in the capital markets prevailing at the time of pricing.”
Datem plans to sell up to 329 million shares at a maximum price of P14.15 apiece. The company plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund construction, real estate and water ventures.
Incorporated in 1984, Datem is engaged in the construction business. It recently ventured into real estate, especially affordable housing projects, and supply and treatment of bulk water.
Ocampo said many companies planning to raise funds this year, either through the equities or bond markets, would likely do so in the second half of the year, or when the presidential election was over.
First Metro, the investment banking unit of Metrobank Group, said it was lining up three to five bite-sized IPOs also in the second semester of 2016.
Ocampo said these companies were mostly engaged in the consumer and property sectors, without identifying them.
“There are sectors that we think will be a sweet spot. Consumers of course because of the demand acceleration. Affordable housing continues to be an exciting area. So those related to that like BPOs, construction, related to those sectors,” Ocampo said.
The average size of these IPOs will range from P1 billion to P3 billion, which could easily be absorbed by local investors.
First Metro expects the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange Index to hit the 7,500-point level in 2016 on sustained growth of the domestic economy as well as healthy corporate earnings.
Sectors seen to lead the index include conglomerates, consumer and retail and banking.
“There are pocket of opportunities in the property sector but growth is projected to be generally moderate,” First Metro said.
First Metro said the risk of inflation upticks due to the impact of prolonged El Niño, volatile global financial markets and the slowdown in China could affect the performance of the stock market this year.