Maynilad targets July 10 listing for Philippines biggest public offering

March 18, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Maynilad Water Services Inc. is eyeing to list in the local bourse by July following the conduct of what could be the country’s largest initial public offering (IPO).

Hong Kong-based investment holding company First Pacific Co. Ltd. said that the indicative timeline of Maynilad’s IPO targets an offer period from June 25 to July 2, 2025.

Its listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), on the other hand, is eyed on July 10.

Maynilad is a Philippine affiliate of First Pacific, which is led by business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Maynilad yesterday filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a listing application with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) for its proposed IPO.

The planned P49-billion IPO of the company’s common shares was approved by its board last week.

With its current potential value of P49.15 billion, Maynilad’s IPO could surpass the P48.6 billion raised by food giant Monde Nissin Corp. from its maiden share sale back in 2021.

Maynilad plans to sell up to 2.46 billion shares at P20 apiece.

The offer shares consist of 1.78 billion primary common shares for public offering, 36.31 million primary common shares to be offered to First Pacific, an overallotment option of up to 266.31 million primary common shares and an upsize option of up to 379.29 million common shares.

The shares represent 30.45 percent of Maynilad’s total issued and outstanding capital stock post-IPO.

First Pacific said that the final number of shares and pricing would be determined through the book-building process and finalized only after receiving approval from both the PSE and SEC.

In determining the offer price, First Pacific said that Maynilad would take into account its historical operating results and financial performance, its business prospects, its expansion plan and capital needs as well as the investor appetite and market conditions.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund Maynilad’s government-approved capital expenditure program for 2025 and 2026 as well as general corporate purposes.

BPI Capital Corp., HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS were tapped as the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO. BPI Capital will also be the domestic lead underwriter.

Maynilad is the concessionaire of the government in providing water services in the West Zone of Metro Manila.

Under Maynilad’s legislative franchise, the company must become a publicly listed firm on or before January 2027 and offer at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stocks five years from the grant of the franchise.

The company is jointly owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), DMCI Holdings of the Consunji family and Marubeni Corp. of Japan.

MPIC owns about 53 percent of the water utility firm, while DMCI and Marubeni hold 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively.