THE Philippine subsidiary of Toronto-listed OceanaGold Corp. is expected to make its debut on the market soon after the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) cleared its application for a P7.9-billion initial public offering (IPO).

In a statement issued late on Friday, the PSE said it approved the application of Didipio mine gold-copper operator OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. for the initial listing of 2.28 billion common shares with a par value of 10 centavos each.

Of the shares for listing, the company plans to offer and sell to the public up to 456 million secondary common shares at a price of up to P17.28 each, subject to a book-building process.

The approval is subject to OceanaGold Philippines' "compliance with any and all of the post-approval conditions and requirements of the exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other relevant regulatory bodies," the bourse noted.

"The same is without prejudice to any regulatory action that may be undertaken by the exchange pursuant to its mandate to maintain a fair, orderly, efficient and transparent market for the trading of securities and to determine the suitability of securities for listing."

Based on a preliminary prospectus dated April 12, the IPO will run from April 29 to May 6, while the listing has been rescheduled to May 13 from the original May 7 target.

The shares will be listed on the PSE's main board under the stock code "OGP."

Proceeds from the transaction are expected to reach P7.8 billion, which will go directly to the selling shareholder. The company will not be receiving any proceeds from the offer.

OceanaGold Philippines has tapped BDO Capital as a stabilizing agent, which would set aside a stabilization fund equivalent to 10 percent of the aggregate offer that may be used to hold stabilization activities starting from the listing date.

"The exchange will advise the investing public of further developments on the IPO of the company," the PSE said.

Last month, the SEC cleared the planned listing, which is being undertaken "to comply with the conditions of the company's renewed Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement with the government."

OceanaGold Philippines' operations at the Didipio mine currently involve sourcing ore from the underground mine and its surface ore stockpile. The ore is then processed to produce gold ore and copper concentrate.

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