Maynilad Water Services [MYNLD pre-IPO] [link] reduced the maximum price for its initial public offering to P15 per share, from P20 previously, after securing commitments from two cornerstone investors: the International Finance Corp. (IFC) of the World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The adjustment trimmed the value of MYNLD’s maiden share sale to P34.33 billion, from P45.8 billion before. Ramoncito Fernandez, company president, said IFC and ADB pledged to invest up to $245 million combined at as much as P15 per share. Fernandez added there were other cornerstone investors but declined to give details. MYNLD, which pushed back its target listing date to ‘not later than’ Nov. 7, 2025 from 31 Oct. 31, 2025, will announce its final offer price on Oct. 20, 2025.
MB bottom-line: IFC and ADB have an appetite for infrastructure plays that is not turned off by the sour taste of political risk. They aren’t on a three-to-seven year private equity timeline to deliver results. They’re not (generally) accountable to limited partners in the way that a private fund would be if a ‘prestige’ investment like this went back and lost the fund money. This price drop affirms my suspicion that market players are looking at this as a potentially ‘heavy’ offering. Bad timing (the market sucks, government is distracted). Weak story (it’s limping to market in order to comply with its concession agreement). I guess the silver lining is that MYNLD could pick up the Villar Family’s bulk water assets, but their recent quotes in response to that opportunity didn’t inspire confidence in MYNLD’s strategic approach to post-IPO growth. MYNLD might be a good investment for some under certain circumstances, but given what I know, I’m just not impressed with the risk/reward of what’s on offer, even at the new price.