Eagle Cement prices IPO at P15 per share

Eagle Cement Corporation on Friday priced its initial public offering at P15 per share after the Philippine Stock Exchange approved the company's public listing.

Shares of the cement maker will trade under the ticker symbol "EAGLE."

EAGLE is selling 500 million common shares by way of primary offer, and an over-allotment option of up to 75 million secondary shares. The offer period is on May 16 to May 22, 2017, and the listing date is on May 29.

"We are very pleased with the bookbuilding results. The issue was well received by institutional investors," the company's joint lead underwriters said in a statement.

"This is a strong indication of their confidence in EAGLE's fundamentals and potential to be the major driver in the cement industry,” said Noel Dayrit, president of SB Capital Investment Corp.

Eagle Cement will use the proceeds from the IPO to partially finance the construction of a 2 million metric ton cement plant in Cebu, which will be its fourth production line.

"The proceeds will also be used to build strategic marine terminals in the Visayas and Mindanao region to facilitate quicker distribution of EAGLE’s products in its bid to capture the Visayas and Mindanao cement market," the company said.

EAGLE has appointed China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine National Bank Capital and Investment Corp., and SB Capital Investment as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners for the IPO.

Founded in 1995, Eagle Cement started commercial operations in 2010. The company is in the business of manufacturing, marketing and sales and distribution of cement. Its brands include Eagle Cement Advance Type 1P, Eagle Cement Exceed Type 1P and Eagle Cement Strongcem Type 1. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News