POSH launches IPO at $1.15 per share

Singapore

PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), owned by Malaysia's richest man Robert Kuok, yesterday launched its listing on the mainboard of Singapore Exchange, making it the largest IPO in Singapore so far this year.

The shares are priced at $1.15 per share and are near the bottom of the pricing range of $1.13-$1.24. Sources said that the listing of 337.63 million shares could raise at least $388.27 million for the largest Asia-based international operator of offshore support vessels.

If the IPO is successful, POSH will have a market capitalisation of about $2.1 billion when it is listed.

POSH's listing would provide a boost to the Republic's equity markets, which have had just one other major mainboard listing so far this year - OUE Commercial Reit.

The public offer of POSH stocks will close at noon on April 23 and trading is expected to start on April 25.

Of the more than 337 million shares on offer, around 40 million shares will be offered to the public. Another 212 million will be placed out to international investors, out of which 25.2 million shares have been reserved for POSH's directors, management, employees and business associates, as well as its subsidiaries, joint ventures and its parent, Kuok (Singapore) Limited (KSL), and its other subsidiaries.

KSL was founded by the Kuok family, which together with its related companies are commonly referred to as the Kuok Group.

In a separate development, Hwang Investment Management and Fortress Capital Asset Management have entered into cornerstone subscription agreements with POSH to subscribe for 85.6 million new shares at the offer price.

POSH, which has a fleet of 112 vessels in operation and another 154 vessels on order, said that it planned to use the net proceeds of approximately $374.8 million, after deducting costs, as repayment of part of the outstanding amounts under its revolving facilities, which have been used for working capital and capital expenditure purposes.

With four distinct operating segments - Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs), Transportation and Installation (T&I), Offshore Accommodation (OA) and Harbour Services and Emergency Response (HSER), POSH's fleet serves offshore oilfields in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It also plans to broaden its fleet diversification, expand into deepwater offshore accommodation and other high-growth asset classes, optimise its charter mix for its OSV and OA fleet, and expand into new markets which offer significant growth potential such as Australia, Indonesia, Latin America and the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

In December, the firm's board of directors gave in-principle approval for a capital expenditure budget of about US$291.5 million, mainly for the further expansion of the POSH fleet in the OSV, T&I and HSER segments in 2014 to maintain growth momentum.

"Our strong parentage and the commitment of our highly experienced management team have built POSH into the largest Asia-based international operator of offshore support vessels and among the top five players globally. We are therefore well positioned to capture market opportunities across all our business segments, maintaining our growth momentum and, in particular, expand into the deepwater offshore accommodation segment," said Gerald Seow, CEO and executive director of POSH.