Thursday, February 9, 2012

News Update FinanceAsia Cites Puregold $172-M IPO

MANILA, Philippines - The US$172 million initial public offering of Puregold Price Club, Inc. (PGOLD) was judged by the FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2011 as the Best Mid-Cap Equity Deal for 2011.
In its December 13, 2011 posting on their website announcing the release of the achievement awards, FinanceAsia indicated the following: "Mid-cap IPO candidates in any market have had a tough time convincing investors to part with their money this year, which makes Puregold's listing in the Philippines even more eye-catching.
In a country that has only a marginal weighting in regional indices and where the stock market trades less than $100 million a day, the company raised $172 million from its IPO and allocated 70% of the shares to international investors, including sovereign wealth funds.
The offering was multiple-times covered despite a challenging market that saw more than $7 billion of Asian deals being postponed or delayed during the marketing period, but priced at the bottom of the range at a fairly undemanding 2012 P/E multiple of 11.8. Since the debut in early October, the stock has gained 37%.
The successful execution of its IPO, which was in fact the only internationally distributed IPO in the Philippines this year, also makes it a worthy winner of our mid-cap deal award."