Nickel miner TVI defers PSE listing to early 2016

• Source:http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?title=nickel-miner-tvi-defers-pse-listing-to-early-2016&id=120620
• Thursday, December 24, 2015

By Krista A. M. Montealegre (Senior Reporter)

THE Philippine affiliate of Canadian miner TVI Pacific, Inc. has pushed back the timetable of its proposed P1.51-billion initial public offering (IPO) to February due to delays in securing regulatory approvals.

TVI Resource Development Phils., Inc. (TVIRD) has filed an updated prospectus retaining the offer size of its maiden share sale, its parent said on a statement uploaded on its Web site.

The miner is sticking to the original plan of offering 408.032 million shares -- comprising up to 272.02 million primary shares and up to 136.01 million shares owned by existing shareholders -- at a ceiling price of P3.71 apiece.

Instead of a Dec. 18 listing, TVIRD is now eyeing to join the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Feb. 29, subject to securing all pre-requisite approvals.

TVIRD is aiming to set the final offer price on Feb. 15, setting the stage for the share sale on Feb. 16-22.

“Partly due to the fact that government offices and businesses were closed for a week in mid-November in connection with the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit meetings, and we are now well into the holiday season, TVIRD’s listing process has been deferred to early 2016 to provide the PSE, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and TVIRD’s underwriter with the necessary time to carry out their review and book building activities,” Clifford James, chairman of TVI and TVIRD, was quoted in the statement as saying.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp. was mandated as the issue manager and lead underwriter of the IPO.

Despite the delay, TVI remains optimistic about the prospects for the IPO in early 2016 given the Philippine miner’s diverse pipeline of projects and the support of its majority shareholder, Prime Resource Holdings Inc., Mr. James said.

“We believe the establishment of a public market for TVIRD shares will allow North American investors to better evaluate the value of TVI’s 30.66% indirect interest and provide us with a potential source of non-dilutive funding,” he added.

Proceeds from the primary offer will fund capital expenditures for the construction, development and operation of the Balabag Gold-Silver Project in Zamboanga del Sur, which is in the final stages of the permitting process.

Straddling the municipalities of Guinoman and Diplahan in Zamboanga del Sur, the Balabag mine has measured indicated resources of 2.5 million tonnes, averaging 1.8 grams per tonne gold and 47.8 gram per tonne silver for 213,000 ounces of gold equivalent, according to a Philippine Mineral Reporting Code (PMRC)-compliant report.

The deposit is situated within a 4,779-hectare area, approximately 75 kilometers from the Canatuan mines previously operated by the company.

Upon approval, TVIRD will commence on-site construction work with a plan to build a gold-silver processing plant, open pit and a tailings dam over the near term.

Aside from Balabag, TVIRD owns the Agata nickel laterite project within the Surigao mining area -- a major nickel producing region that provides ore to processing plants in Australia, China, Korea and Japan.