Petronas Chemicals sets IPO price at RM5.04

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd has fixed the price of its initial public offering (IPO) at RM5.04 a share for the portion reserved for retail investors and at RM5.20 apiece for shares to be sold to institutional investors.

The IPO would raise RM12.8bil, of which RM9.2bil was to be accrued to parent company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the company said in a statement yesterday.

Based on the institutional price, Petronas Chemicals’ market value will be RM41.6bil, making it one of the largest petrochemical producers in South-East Asia.

Petronas Chemicals will be a component stock of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index.

“We are delighted with the investors’ response to the offering. We have had very engaging interactions with investors and the bookbuilding exercise has attracted significant interest from various types of investors globally,” Petronas Chemicals chairman Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said.

The Employees Provident Fund and Retirement Fund Inc have subscribed an aggregate of 445 million shares, or 5.6% of Petronas Chemicals.

Petronas Chemicals’ IPO is the largest share sale exercise in South-East Asia to date. CIMB Investment Bank Bhd acted as the principal adviser for the IPO.

Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong branch and Morgan Stanley & Co International plc acted as joint global co-cordinators and joint bookrunner for the institutional offering.

Petronas Chemicals is scheduled for listing on Bursa Malaysia on Nov 26.

It is the second Petronas-owned unit to have a public offering this year, following the listing of the group’s heavy engineering unit Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd last month.

Meanwhile, a Malaysian Issuing House Sdn Bhd statement said the 160 million shares for public subscription attracted 78,613 applications for 636.092 million shares, representing an oversubscription of 2.98 times.

In separate announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, CIMB said it may buy up to 372 million shares in Petronas Chemicals from the open market to stabilise the stock post listing.

CIMB has been designated as the so-called “stabilising manager” for the IPO under section 9(1) of the capital market and service (price stabilisation mechanism) Regulation 2008.

It will carry out its mandate to keep the stock stable for a maximum of 30 days post listing.