Philippine budget airline Cebu Pacific plans to raise up to 32.19 billion pesos ($727 million) through a listing on the country's stock exchange in October.
Its parent company, Philippine conglomerate JG Summit, will list around 31% of its shares in the IPO, says the Philippine Stock Exchange. Of this, 70% will be sold to US investors and the rest domestically. Under Philippine law, the country's citizens must own at least 60% of domestic carriers.
The offer price should not exceed 150 pesos per share based on existing market conditions, says the exchange. The airline initially planned an IPO in 2008, but that was delayed due to the global financial crisis. It then considered a listing in March, but delayed that due to elections in the Philippines.
Cebu Pacific, which began operations in 1996, plans to use the funds raised to pay for aircraft purchases in 2011-2012, adds the exchange. The carrier operates a fleet of Airbus A319s, A320s and ATR 72-500s, and has 22 A320s and two ATR 72-500s on order, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database.
In the six months to 30 June, its net income rose 55.6% to 3.09 billion pesos on strong traffic growth. Revenues rose 30.9% to 14.9 billion pesos, mainly due to an increase in passenger numbers due to additional flight frequencies to existing destinations.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
