Medilines IPO to benefit from economic rebound and PSEi – Manila Bulletin

PNB Capital and Investment Corporation noted that the Philippine Stock Exchange’s approval of Medilines Distributors Inc.’s (Medilines) 2 billion peso Initial Public Offering (IPO) comes at a time when the economy and the stock market are in recovery.

“We look forward to offering investors this innovative deal that will allow them to participate in the country’s growing healthcare industry,” said Gerry Valenciano, President and CEO of PNB Capital.

PNB Research expects the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) to end between 7,490 and 8,100 this year, expecting the relatively low return environment to allow earnings multiples to remain high .

This suggests a potential rise of up to 11.1% from last Friday’s close at 7,289.61.

“GDP growth from Q2 2022 will encourage positive sentiment and investors look forward to less stringent pandemic brakes overall,” said Alvin Arogo, vice president and chief research officer of the Philippine National Bank .

PNB Capital is the sole issue manager, lead manager and sole bookrunner of the transaction.

Medilines President Virgilio B. Villar hopes investors will not pass up this tremendous opportunity to invest in the health sector, especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are now one step closer to our vision of providing the public with an investment opportunity that is expected to grow rapidly amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, as everyone realizes the importance of the health sector, ”Villar said.

Medilines is one of the main distributors of medical equipment in the country. It maintains a portfolio of advanced equipment from multinational brands such as Siemens Healthineers (Germany) for diagnostic imaging, B. Braun (Germany) for dialysis and Varian (United States) for cancer treatment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the IPO of Medilines in its pre-entry letter dated October 12. The PES also gave the green light with its notice of approval dated 18 October, subject to certain conditions being met.

Based on a preliminary prospectus dated October 8, 2021, Medilines will offer up to 550 million primary ordinary shares and up to 275 million secondary shares at an offering price of up to 2.45 P per share .

Medilines intends to finalize its offer price on November 16, 2021. The target offer period for the IPO will be November 22 to November 26, 2021 while the target IPO listing date is December 7, 2021.

Net proceeds from the IPO are expected to be around 1.28 billion pesos, which it will use to fund the company’s working capital for its existing products, expand into the medical consumables segment, and reimburse his debt.

Founded in 2002, Medilines plans to expand its presence and product portfolio in the near future to help improve the country’s healthcare system through quality medical devices.

During the pandemic, Medilines provided some of the medical equipment needed to bolster the country’s response to COVID-19 through diagnostic imaging devices such as CT scans and x-rays, which are essential for doctors to determine the extent of COVID-19 infection in patients.

Medilines revenue for the first half of 2021 jumped to 815 million pesos, an increase of 281% year-on-year. The net profit during the same period in 2021 was 100 million pesos, which is equivalent to almost 100% of the net profit posted for the year 2020.

The Company attributes the growth in profitability to increased sales of cancer treatment devices in the first half of 2021.