Days after it announced that it was reviving its initial public offering, Resorts World Manila operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. followed that up by disclosing its plan to cut the maximum price of the IPO by half to just Php11.88 per share.
UBS Philippines managing director Lauro Baja III made the announcement during last week’s domestic roadshow, dropping the IPO from its original price of Php23.38 per share. No reason was given as to why the company decided on dropping the IPO price but even with the surprising news, Travellers is still confident that it will be able to raise a sizable amount of money from the public offering.
Sure, it won’t amount to the $842 million that was initially planned, but the new equity fundraising target of $430 million is still sizable enough to allow Travellers the chance to use the proceeds from the sale on general corporate purposes, including financing capital and project expenditures as well as equipment leases and purchases.
UBS is one of Travellers’ global coordinators, international book runners and lead managers of the IPO. In addition to the foreign investment firm, Travellers also tapped CIMB Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Merrill Lynch (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Religare Capital Markets Hong Kong Limited and UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch as joint global coordinators, international book runners and lead managers. CLSA Limited, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited and Morgan Stanley & Company International PLC were signed on as joint international co-book runners while BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc and UBS Investments Philippines Inc. will all act as the company’s domestic lead underwriters.
In an attempt to generate as much investment interest ahead of the final offer price being set on October 17, the RWM operator will conduct an international roadshow that will see it go on a barnstorming tour of sorts in various key Asian and American cities. Among the stops that have already been penciled in include Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York, and Boston.
The offer period for Travellers’ IPO has been scheduled from October 22 all the way until October 29, giving interested investors a full week to get their finances and investments in order ahead of the shares getting listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange on November 5.
