The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has approved the P2.02-billion initial public offering (IPO) of Medilines Distributors Inc., a distributor of medical equipment in the country.
The company, which will be traded under the ticker MEDIC, will sell some 550 million common shares on a primary basis and another 275 million shares in secondary offering being held by its chairman Virgilio B. Villar, at an indicative price of P2.45 apiece.
Final pricing of its shares will be known on November 16, while selling of the shares will start from November 22 through 26 and its shares will be listed on the PSE for trading on December 7. “The healthcare industry has been in the spotlight since this pandemic broke out. We are pleased to see a company in this space tap the stock market for capital raising. We are hopeful that this IPO will pave the way for other companies in this sector to seek funding from the equities market,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used by the company to procure existing products and build-up its medical consumables inventory and for debt repayment.
Some 10 percent of the company’s offer shares will be reserved for local small investors, who may subscribe to the IPO through the PSE EASy website or mobile application.
Medilines Chairman Virgilio B. Villar, brother of former politician and Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. Chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr., said the company’s working relationship with multinational medical device companies like Siemens Healthineers, B. Braun Avitum Philippines and Varian Medical Systems for the past several years will assure the supply of medical equipment.
“Our long-standing relationships with these global industry leaders will continue to strengthen our market position in the medical equipment distribution space in the Philippines,” he said.
“The established operations of our principals in the Philippines also enable our company’s operations to be lean and efficient.”
The medical devices market, composed of medical equipment and consumables and accessories, is expected to hit P127.8 billion by 2025 from last year’s P77 billion, a compounded growth of more than 10 percent.