Maynilad Water Services Inc. has opened the offer period for its P34.3-billion initial public offering (IPO) — the largest and final market debut of the year — after securing a Permit to Sell from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The West Zone concessionaire said Thursday that the offer period will run until 29 October, with Maynilad targeting a 7 November listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Main Board under the ticker “MYNLD.” The final offer price was set at P15 per share on 20 October.

The IPO consists of 1,660,317,400 common shares to be sold to the public and 24,904,800 primary shares to First Pacific Company Ltd.

Overallotment option

It also includes an overallotment option of up to 249,047,600 primary shares and may be upsized by as much as 354,704,200 secondary shares to be offered by Maynilad Water Holding Company Inc. (MWHCI).

Proceeds will be used “to fund Maynilad’s capital expenditures requirements and for general corporate purposes,” the company said. It added that it “will not receive any proceeds from the sale of MWHCI’s shares in the event that the upsize option is exercised.”

BPI Capital Corp. is the domestic lead underwriter, while The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte. and UBS AG Singapore Branch are the international underwriters and joint global coordinators.

Cornerstone investors

Lead cornerstone investors are the International Finance Corp. and Asian Development Bank, alongside domestic investors BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Asset Management and Trust Corp., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.-Trust Banking Group, and Security Bank Corp.-Trust and Asset Management Group.

International cornerstone participants include abrdn Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Maven Investment Partners Ltd.-Hong Kong Branch, Maybank Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd., Robeco Switzerland Ltd. and QRT Master Fund SPC-Torus Fund SP.