Upson slashes IPO price by 56% to P2.40/share

Upson International Corp. (Upson), a retailer of personal computers and other tech gadgets, has slashed its offer price by 56 percent to P2.40 from P5.50 per share.

At this price, Upson will raise a minimum of P1.65 billion instead of as much as P5.4 billion.

This as the final offer size consists of 625 million primary common shares with an over-allotment option of up to 62.5 million secondary common shares.

In its registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Upson originally planned to sell up to 789.47 million primary common shares and up to 98.68 million secondary common shares, with an over-allotment option of up to 98.68 million common shares, at up to P5.50 per share.

It originally targeted to list in September 2022 but has now moved this to April 3.

Proceeds will be used for growth and expansion.

In the next five years up to 2027, the company hopes to nearly double its store portfolio by adding 250 stores or an additional retail space of 25,000 square meters, to be rolled out in the National Capital Region (NCR) as well as strategic areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Upson has a retail network of at least 200 brand outlets namely Octagon Computer Superstore, Micro Valley, Gadget King, and Octagon Mobile, as well as other concept stores and specialty stores, such as Acer, HP, Brother and Silvertec in selected locations.

As a complement to its store expansion, Upson plans to open nine new warehouses and renovate its six existing warehouses, which would enable Upson to maintain adequate stocks of inventory at uniform prices in all its stores nationwide, the company said in its filings.