MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. is eyeing to push through with its initial public offering (IPO) by next year.
In a press conference held in Taipei last week, Maynilad president and chief executive officer Ramoncito Fernandez said the public listing of the west zone water concessionaire will likely be conducted around the election season in 2025.
“We are poised to list next year. Our target is to be prepared for two possible dates before the elections: April, or after the elections (in) July,” Fernandez said.
“So our plan is to be push-button ready. We are now pushing our team to apply already by first quarter of next year,” he added.
The pubic listing of Maynilad is a requirement of the franchise.
Signed in January 2022, the new concession requires the company to publicly list at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stocks within five years.
When asked about the size of the IPO, Fernandez said it would be too early to talk about the valuation.
“But the fact of the matter is that we have already appointed three financial advisors: HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS,” he said.
Fernandez also said the public listing will be open to overseas investors.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. owns about 53 percent of Maynilad.
DMCI Holdings Inc. has a stake of roughly 25 percent, while Marubeni Corp. has around 20 percent ownership.
“Marubeni wants to stay. In fact, they are very sensitive in being diluted,” Fernandez said.
“They don’t want to dilute their board membership. That is what they are most critical about,” he added.
Fernandez said that it has not yet been discussed how the shares to be offered will be divided, however, he pointed out that an equal dilution among the current owners would be ideal.
