MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. will push through with a mandated initial public offering (IPO) next year, its chief executive said.

"[W]e are poised to list next year," Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez said last Thursday in Taipei, where parent firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. held a briefing on its finances.

"Our target is to be prepared for two possible dates, and these are before the [mid-term] elections, which is in April, or after the said period, so maybe in July," he added

"[O]ur plan is to be push-button ready, so we are now pushing our team to apply for the IPO already by [the] first quarter of next year."

Valuation is still being finalized, and Fernandez said that Maynilad had tapped HSBC, UBS and Morgan Stanley as financial advisors for the listing.

"In terms of valuation, it is still too early to talk about it," Fernandez said.

"We also plan to offer shares to foreign investors as this is a major listing that cannot be funded by only local investors alone."

Maynilad is mandated by its concession agreement with the government to conduct an IPO on or before January 2027.

The firm holds a 25-year legislative franchise for waterworks, sewerage and sanitation services in the west zone service area of Metro Manila and the province of Cavite.

Fernandez said that Japan's Marubeni Corp., one of the owners of the water concessionaire with approximately a 20 percent interest, wanted to retain its stake as well as its board seat after the IPO.

"Marubeni wants to stay. In fact, they are very sensitive to being diluted. There have been no talks regarding the matter, but ideally the dilution should be equal," he added.

Metro Pacific holds a 53 percent stake in Maynilad, while DMCI Holdings Inc. has 25 percent.