Lucio Tan holding firm lures 11 global investors in share sale — FinanceAsia

The follow-on offering of LT Group Inc., the holding company of taipan Lucio Tan, has attracted robust demand from foreign institutional investors, leading financial publishing firm FinanceAsia reported Tuesday. According to FinanceAsia, 11 global long-only investors committed to subscribe to one billion LT Group shares or 62.5 percent of the base deal.  The roadshow for the share offering and book-building kicked off on Monday. The group holds the banking, tobacco, real estate, brewery and beverage businesses of Tan. The company intends to sell up to 1.6 billion shares at P18 to P20.50 per share through a top-up placement to raise between P28.8 billion and P32.8 billion. The share sale comes with the option to overallot up to 240 million additional shares, potentially increasing the deal size up to P37.72 billion or around $911 million. To close either on April 16 or 17, depending on how brisk the transactions will flow, the deal is touted as the biggest equity fund-raising in the Philippines, eclipsing GT Capital’s $504 million IPO in 2012 and SM Investments Corp.’s P28.8 billion in 2005. At P18 to P20.50 per share, the LT Group is valued at a 2013 price-to-earnings ratio of 14 times to 16 times, according to FinanceAsia, citing an unnamed source. The group posted a consolidated net income of P8.74 billion last year, up 31 percent from P6.67 billion  in 2011. Total revenues, however, slightly dipped to P30.57 billion. As of end-December, the company counted its asset base at P97.6 billion, up 30.48 percent from P74.8 billion. UBS is the sole global coordinator and bookrunner for this deal. — VS, GMA News