The stock of the company behind Century Tuna, Swift and Argentina Corned Beef debuted strongly in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), closing at P15.20, an increase of 10.6% from its initial offer price.
Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) opened at P15.50 and reached a high of P16.04 during its first trading day earlier today, with more than 61 million shares traded. It reached a low of P15.00 during today’s trading.
Investors who bought the stock at P13.75 during its IPO offer period netted a 10.6% return in just one day. Be reminded, of course, that this gain is still considered a paper gain unless the stock is sold.
CNPF’s surge is in stark contrast with the performance of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) which closed flat (down 0.01%) at 6,765.93.
Most Actively Traded stock
CNPF is the Most Actively Traded stock, together with Banco de Oro (BDO, down 0.34% at P88.20); Security Bank (SECB, down 0.16% at P123.00); International Container Terminal Services (ICT, unchanged at P112.20); and PLDT (TEL, up 0.07% at P2,892.00).
During its initial public offering (IPO) run, CNPF issued 229.65 million common shares, raising P3.16 billion. Proceeds will be used to finance capital expenditures, pursue potential opportunistic acquisitions, retire debt and support working capital, as per the company prospectus.
The offer was 3.5 times oversubscribed, according to BDO Capital, one of the underwriters of the transaction. First Metro Investment Corp. and BPI Capital Corp. were also tapped as underwriters for CNPF’s IPO.
Other companies that went public
Century Pacific is the second company to conduct an IPO this year. In April, real estate firm Double Dragon Properties (DD) listed its shares and reached the 50% price ceiling on its first trading day.
In January, Top Frontier Holdings Inc. (TFHI) debuted on the PSE but not through the IPO route but by way of introduction.
Another real estate company, 8990 Holdings (HOUSE) is expected to issue new shares to the public in May, not through an IPO but through a follow-on share offering.
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