Wilcon prices IPO shares at P5.05 each

Wilcon Depot Inc. has set the final price for its initial public offering at P5.05 per share.

At that amount, the company is expected to raise P7.03 billion from the sale of 1.39 billion primary shares, which represent 34 percent of its outstanding common shares post-offer.

“Despite the very high interest in the IPO, the Belo family agreed to price the issue at an attractive level in order to ensure a healthy performance of the stock upon listing in the PSE,” said Justino Juan Ocampo, executive vice president of issue manager First Metro Investment Corp.

The offering received strong demand from institutional investors, with the entire offering more than three times oversubscribed. Orders came from institutional accounts from both domestic and offshore markets.

Wilcon is expected to make its market debut on March 31 and will use the ticker symbol WLCON. The offer period will run from March 20 to 24.

Apart from FMIC, Wilcon has tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as joint lead underwriter together with RCBC Capital Corp and Penta Capital Investment Corp.

The issue managers anticipate strong demand for IPO citing the company's growth story and the promising opportunities in the home improvements and construction supply retailing space.

Wilcon will use proceeds from the offer to expand in fast growing cities outside Metro Manila.

“We opened our first branch this year in Butuan last January. We plan to build about 28 more stores, seven of them to open this year in Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Tacloban, Silang, General Trias and other areas that have high growth potential,” said Wilcon chairman William Belo.

In the first nine months of 2016, the company reported a 50 percent jump in net income on the back of a 10 percent hike in sales to P11.73 billion.

At present, the company has a network of 37 stores nationwide and accounts for 70 percent of the market in its segment.

Wilcon will be the first company to brave the market this year. Other companies expected to list are Eagle Cement Corp. ( P9.2 billion), Cebu Landmaster ( P3.8 billion), Audiowav (P2.7 billion), Pure Energy Holdings (P1.5 billion), Xeleb (P736 million) and The Big Chill (P500 million to P600 million).