THE Villars have hyped the initial public offering of their All Day Marts, Inc. for weeks before the actual IPO on Nov. 3 at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Then just a couple of days before Wednesday, AllDay ($:ALLDY) lowered its indicative price of 0.80 per share to 0.60 to make it even palatable to buyers and investors.
Analysts said then it provided a more attractive valuation, along with high growth expectations, for participates in this market to subscribe.
AllDay Marts Inc. also disclosed an expansion plan to reach 45 stores by the end of next year, and 100 stores by the end of 2026.
This plan is only mildly aggressive compared to the initial plans of competitor Merry Mart ($:MM) which had a very successful IPO more than a year ago, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On listing day, $:ALLDY marked a successful debut with its share rising 50 percent to 0.90 apiece and hitting the ceiling minutes after the opening bell.
Villar's company raised P4.5 billion from its oversubscribed IPO of 6.86 billion shares and 685.71 million over-allotment option shares at P0.60 per share.
The big success of course made AllDay vice chairman Camille Villar very happy, who said:
"We would like to express how truly pleased we are with the outcome of our IPO.We are truly proud to join the PSE's roster of listed companies."
Her father, former Speaker Manuel B. Villar Jr., the richest man in the Philippines, was simply ecstatic.His statement follows:
"When we priced the IPO, we did so with a mind to help maximize long-term value for our new institutional and retail investors.The brisk market uptake of our shares validates this price and we are very pleased and grateful for the warm reception that the AllDay IPO was given."
The euphoria among AllDay retail investors was at its height on Wednesday.But it was replaced with fear and trepidation just before the opening on Thursday, Nov. 4.Which saw the light of a dark day at 9:30 a.m. with $:ALLDY opening at a high of 1.10 and tanking to 0.7089 in minutes, then 0.80.
From there, it notched the following prices in 30-minutes intervals:0.7681, 0.7997, 0.8206, 0.8011, 0.7600 and closed at 0.74.
Thousands of both institutional and retail investors were left holding the bag because they bought at very high prices.The lucky ones were able to leave the play early for a considerable profit.
The newbies and the weak hands, of course, were confused on what to do and suffered big losses.
They only made the country's richest man richer by P4.5 billion.
As for me, COL Financial was not able to fill my request for shares before the IPO and did not have the courtesy to email me at ports.reports@gmail.com to at least let me know.
But I am not complaining.It was clear in the contract/request that:
"I/We understand that your attempt to source out my/our request will be on a best effort basis and hold COL Financial Group Inc. under no obligation to fulfill or complete my/our order."
I am not complaining because in a way, COL saved me from incurring a big loss in this roller-coaster IPO play.
Thousands of others -- the unlucky retail traders -- are crying and angry at the "ipit" situation they find themselves it.One of them said, "From All Day to All Die."
I plan to quote their exact words of euphoria and disappointment in my next column.
Feedback is welcome from non-readers at ports.reports@gmail.com.