Philippine semiconductor firm plans $15 mn IPO

CALIFORNIA, USA: Semiconductor manufacturer Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp plans to raise 660 million pesos ($15.4 million) via an initial public offering, official filings showed, with the firm possibly becoming just the second IPO in the country this year.

The company plans to sell up to 61.82 million shares, or 34 per cent of issued and outstanding capital stock after the offer, at a maximum price of 10.68 pesos each to finance working capital, recent acquisitions, and the purchase of new machinery and equipment for its three-year expansion programme.

It did not indicate any timing for the IPO. BDO Capital and Investment Corp, a unit of the Philippines' largest lender Banco de Oro Unibank , is underwriter for the offer.

The country's sole IPO so far this year was by Megawide Construction Corp , which raised about $52 million in February. The power arm of San Miguel Corp is also planning an initial public offer this year, but it did not indicate the timing of the issue.

Caution ruled in the equities market in the first half, largely due to worries about the pace of the global economic recovery and the euro zone's debt problems.

Under its expansion programme, Cirtek plans to construct a third building at its manufacturing complex in Binan, Laguna province south of the capital Manila in the current September quarter.

Cirtek, which has been in business for more than 25 years, provides turnkey solutions that include package design and development, wafer probing, wafer back grinding, assembly and packaging, and final testing of semiconductor devices.

The Philippines accounts for about 10 percent of the world's semiconductor manufacturing services, including for mobile phones and micro processors. Exports of the electronics and semiconductors industry account for about half of the country's total shipments