Fruitas Holdings (FRUIT) of businessman Lester Yu has come up with another initial public offering (IPO) bust.
Yu’s Balai ni Fruitas (BALAI) dropped seven percent to 65 centavos on its debut in the stock market on June 30. It was the 9th biggest loser for the day.
Nearly three years after FRUITAS IPO flop: Lester Yu to pocket up to P58M windfall from BALAI IPO
BALAI’s IPO hit a high of 83 centavos and a low of 63 centavos. It had a total turnover of P172 million with P1.37 million in net foreign selling.
Yu allocated roughly P26 million or up to 37.5 million shares as stabilization fund to ease selling in the stock.
This is Yu’s second IPO since raising P896 million from the Fruitas IPO in 2019. It is currently trading at 35 percent below its IPO price of P1.68.
Yu raised P289 million from BALAI’s IPO which he planned to use for store expansion, building a commissary, and acquiring other baked goods.
COL Financial cited three risks in investing in BALAI:
* Highly competitive environment with low barriers to entry;
* Reliance on expansion of newly acquired Balai pandesal brand; and
* Price volatility of key product inputs such as wheat and sugar.