Facebook Inc : Felda Global To Rise 10% In Debut Thursday Following $3.1 Billion Malaysia IPO-Analysts
06/27/2012| 07:16am US/Eastern
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By Jason Ng and Shie-Lynn Lim
KUALA LUMPUR--Shares in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (5222.KU) are expected to rise by at least 10% from their initial public offering price when they start trade on Thursday, buoyed by hefty demand from institutional investors seeking exposure to high dividends as well as the potential blue chip.
Felda Global, the state-owned plantation operator that raised $3.1 billion in the world's second-largest IPO this year after Facebook Inc.'s (FB) $16 billion share sale, priced its IPO sale of 2.19 billion shares at 4.55 ringgit a share with a discounted MYR4.45 price for retail investors. Cornerstone investors, and state governments, that committed to holding the shares for at least six months, about a third of the offer.
Based on the institutional price, which accounts for the bulk of the shares sold, Felda Global's market capitalization would be MYR16.61 billion (US$5.20 billion), making it the 22nd largest in the Malaysian stock exchange. The Malaysian government-owned company, which manages and runs palm oil plantations on behalf of state-owned plantations as well as those owned by farmers called "settlers," would thus be a must-have in the 30-share benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index, fund managers said.
James Ratnam, senior plantation analyst at TA Investment Bank Bhd, said he had a 12-month price target for Felda Global of MYR5.50 and expected a first-day gain of 10%-15%, because of its potential inclusion in the index. Many fund managers, who couldn't buy the shares through the institutional portion of the IPO as it was oversubscribed by more than 30-times, will likely buy it in the first few days of trading for its high dividend yield, as well, analysts said. They said, however, that retail investors eager for capital gain and not dividend yield will likely cash out. Around 88% of the IPO went to institutions, from institutional investors, to cornerstone investors, to state governments, all of whom are buying at MYR4.55 IPO price.
Kuala Lumpur-based brokerage MIDF Research expects Felda Global's stock to appreciate nearly 16.5% to MYR5.30 over the next 12 months. Felda Global's MYR4.55 IPO price translates to 13 times 2013 consensus earnings, according to people familiar with the deal, while other Malaysian plantation stocks trade at around 14 times on average, with palm oil plantation operator Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (2445.KU) trading at more than 16 times.
MIDF also said that Felda Global intends to distribute at least 50% of its net profit to shareholders as dividends, meaning that it has a dividend yield of 4.5% compared with its peers at 3.5%.
In its IPO prospectus filed with the stock exchange late last month, Felda Global said its net profit for the three months ended March 31 was MYR192.2 million (US$60.2 million) down 47% from MYR359.0 million a year earlier, while revenue edged up 1.8% to MYR1.72 billion from MYR1.69 billion ringgit during the same three months last year. Felda Global said the profit fall was due to higher prices it has had to pay for crude palm oil as well as the cost of replanting trees to improve yields.
Felda Global is the biggest IPO in Malaysia since state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd.'s unit Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd. raised $4.14 billion in late 2010. Earlier this month, Gas Malaysia, a natural gas supplier which raised US$230 million from its IPO, saw its shares rise as much as 15% on their debut in the local stock exchange even after the company reported an over-50% drop in its first quarter net profit. The shares ended Wednesday at MYR2.61, 18.6% higher than the company's IPO price of MYR2.20.
Felda Global appointed CIMB Investment Bank and Maybank Investment Bank as the joint principal advisers. It has also hired CIMB Investment Bank, Deutche Bank AG, JP Morgan Securities Ltd., Maybank Investment Bank and Morgan Stanley & Co as joint bookrunners for the institutional offering.
Write To Jason Ng and Shie-Lynn Lim at jason.ng@dowjones.com
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