The PNB office complex near Manila Bay, shared with Philippine Airlines, another company owned by tycoon Lucio Tan’s LT Group.
Courtesy of PNB
PNB Holdings—the property arm of tycoon Lucio Tan’s Philippine National Bank (PNB)— may delay its initial public listing to protect its estimated 56.3 billion pesos ($930 million) valuation from a prolonged equities selloff fueled by the Middle East conflict.
Pushing back the listing will protect shareholder value amid current market volatility, said Lucio Tan III, the tycoon’s grandson and chief operating officer of LT Group, PNB’s largest shareholder.
“The initial plan was to list very, very soon, but due to the issues that we’re seeing with the market, we may potentially have to push it back,” Tan said in a text message LT Group sent to Forbes Asia. “At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we maximize the value of this overall listing and we want to do it in a way where we are able to fully capitalize.”
PNB spun off its property unit in 2021 and distributed 51% of the shares in PNB Holdings, which owns prime real estate in the Makati central business district in the Philippines and along Manila Bay, to the bank’s shareholders as dividends. Its planned IPO has been ongoing since then to help boost the bank’s capital and raise funds to develop its properties.
“While the company continues to maintain a state of readiness, current market conditions are not fully aligned with the objective of value protection and value creation for shareholders,” PNB Holdings said in a statement to Forbes Asia. “The company continues to evaluate conditions so that it may proceed with a listing at an appropriate time, taking into account the interests of its shareholders and other stakeholders.”
PNB Holdings chief financial officer Ponciano Carreon Jr. told Forbes Asia last month the company is preparing to go public after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved its application for listing via introduction at an estimated valuation of 56.3 billion pesos. Listing via introduction allows the company’s shares to trade without the company holding a maiden share shale.
The SEC approved the listing of PNB Holdings’ 46.9 million common shares at an initial listing price of 1.20 pesos each. The approval is subject to compliance with certain remaining requirements, the SEC said.
LT Group’s capital expenditure budget this year is under review and the revised budget would likely drop to its 6 billion peso to 8 billion peso historical range, its Chief Finance Officer Jose Gabriel Olives was cited in the same text message to Forbes Asia.
With a real-time net worth of $3.2 billion, Lucio Tan is among the wealthiest in the Philippines. Apart from his stake in PNB, Tan’s interests span airlines, beverages, tobacco, and real estate.