The M$4.56bn (US$1.48bn) IPO of Astro Malaysia Holdings is being touted
as another blockbuster listing in Malaysia’s red-hot equity capital markets,
but the price range suggests something far more measured.
Despite early bullishness, the
company set a lower-than-expected price target of M$2.70–$3.00 per share for
its 1.52bn-share IPO.
The subscription television
provider launched the IPO process in early August amid reports suggesting the
company was marketing shares to Bumiputera investors at M$3.60.
At the time, a source predicted
that would eventually become the top end of the price range: “The maximum price
could be around there and definitely not lower.”
The difference between the
expected price and the final price range is not unique to Astro. For instance,
the Bumiputera price for Malaysia’s heavily oversubscribed IHH Healthcare IPO
was first expected at M$3.15, but was finally 9.5% lower at M$2.85.
However, for Astro, the maximum
price comes 17% lower than first indicated, prompting the comment that
investors may be thinking a little longer before signing on the dotted line,
even though the IPO is expected to meet with the success that has become
typical of Malaysian floats this year.
Still not cheap
Still, Astro’s IPO is no
giveaway. The current price range translates to a forward EV/Ebitda multiple of
10–11 and is higher than the 8.3, at which Indonesian cable operator MNC
Skyvision priced its June float of US$226m.
“It is the price to pay for a
company that is a monopoly, has a strong management and is a potential
benchmark index candidate,” a banker said.
The response to the IPO is
expected to be strong, with 16 investor groups coming in as cornerstone
investors for 22.7% of the total deal size.
The deal includes an
institutional offering of up to 1.26bn shares and a retail offering of 259.8m
shares.
The 16 cornerstone investors are
Areca Capital, Azentus, Antelle Holding, CMY, Corston, ECM Libra, Great Eastern
Holdings, Caprice Capital, Kencana Capital, Myriad, Nomura Holdings, Och Ziff,
Permodalan Nasional, Standard Pacific Corp, TPG Axon and USS.
Astro’s institutional book opened
on September 20 and closes on October 3. The retail offer opens on September 21
and closes on October 1. The issue will be priced on October 3 and listing is
targeted for October 19.
The IPO size represents 29.2% of
the company’s enlarged capital. Astro Networks is the selling shareholder.
There is a 90-day lock-up on the selling shareholder and the cornerstones, but the
first 15m of each cornerstone’s shares are freely tradable.
CIMB, Maybank and RHB are the
joint principal advisers. CIMB, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan,
Maybank and UBS are joint global co-ordinators, with Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, Citigroup, DBS, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley and RHB the
other bookrunners.
Astro All Asia delisted its
shares in 2010 in a transaction that valued the company at M$8.5bn. CIMB was
the lead banker for the delisting.
S Anuradha
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment