Saturday, May 26, 2007 Airline mulls IPO before yearend
* Oil firm also plans to enlist in stock market
CEBU Pacific has disclosed plans to list-up at the Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE) before the year ends.
Cebu Pacific president Lance Gokongwei announced this along the company's upcoming acquisition of 14 Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) planes worth US$250 million.
"We are buying up to 14 brand new ATR 72-500 aircraft for our continued expansion," Gokongwei told reporters.
However, he pointed out that while they are seriously considering an initial public offering (IPO), funding for the purchase of the 14 new aircraft, which will be deployed primarily in Boracay and other "underserved" local airports, will not be dependent on the IPO.
"The IPO is just one various option that we are considering. (Let me just reiterate that) this project is not dependent on IPO," Gokongwei said.
He said of the 70 airports in the country, there are only 25 that cater or can accommodate Airbus planes so that Cebu Pacific will serve airports that cannot cater to such aircraft.
Gokongwei said the first 2 ATR 72-500 will arrive in early 2008 while the remaining planes will be delivered until 2013. France-based ATR is the world leader in the 50 to 74-seater turboprop market.
The 14 additional planes will give the CEB a total of 46 aircraft with 32 of them A320 and A319 airplanes.
Cebu Pacific completed its US$670 million re-fleeting program last March.
Gokongwei said they want to capture the Boracay market, which posted a total of 556,000 tourist arrivals in 2006. Only small airline like Sea Air and Asian Spirit have direct flights to Caticlan while Cebu Pacific flies to Kalibo only.
"So the ATR will allow us to enter Boracay (direct) via Caticlan," he added.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFP) is planning to offer an IPO.
PNOC-AFC chairman Renato Velasco said they are looking at 2008 and 2009 as their targets for the list-up and the proceeds from the IPO will be used to finance their projects. (MSN/Sunnex)
