PhilLAB Holdings CEO meeting with investors in US ahead of planned IPO

PhilLAB Holdings CEO Tom Navasero. WEBSITE

 SAN FRANCISCO – Tom Navasero, of CEO and president PhiLAB Holdings Corp. (DNA PM) is in the United States this week to meet global investors ahead of the firm’s planned public share offering later this month.

PhiLAB was established in 1958 and is a leading Philippine supplier of life science equipment. Navasero is sharing with global investors information about PhiLAB’s growth strategy, including its pioneering work in medical home test kits.

PhiLAB is newly listed on the Philippines public exchange. Last year, Navasero purchased 67 percent of Alterra Capital (ALT PM); earlier in 2017, that company’s name changed to PhiLAB and its ticker to DNA PM. Now, as a publicly traded company, PhiLAB plans a public share offering of approximately $40-60 million.

“Global investors in the U.S. remain focused on quality growth stories,” said Mark Decker, founder and CEO of institutional equities broker Decker & Co., which is hosting PhiLAB on its first U.S. roadshow. “We’ve been honored to host PhiLAB in Singapore and Hong Kong already, where investors were particularly interested in the company’s consumer health services angle.”

For the follow-on share offering, Decker & Co. is the sole selling agent on behalf of Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. (PCCI), sole issue manager underwriter and book runner. The transaction is anticipated to close later in this month.

Navesaro, who is the son of the company’s founder, began a slate of meetings in the U.S. on March 6 and has since visited several U.S. cities. The U.S. roadshow concludes on March 10.

PhiLAB is a pioneering and has been the leading Philippine supplier of life science equipment to healthcare, pharma and other industries for almost six decades. The company is now evolving as a first-mover in the Philippines in the area of affordable healthcare equipment.

For example, PhiLAB was the first to provide the Department of Health with affordable in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test kits that can detect the dengue virus. In the coming weeks, PhiLAB plans to launch its LABit Dengue Fever Self-test Kit to enable users to perform a self-test in their own homes.

PhiLAB is also developing additional testing products, such as Zika virus test kits, that it expects to have strong demand in the Philippines while also opening opportunities for overseas expansion throughout Southeast Asia, South America and Africa. PhiLAB also has a strategic partnership with the China Educational Instrument and Equipment Corporation (“CEIEC”).

Navasero assumed leadership of PhiLAB in 2013. He spearheaded the establishment and operations of Genomics Institute of Asia (GINA). Through a partnership with GINA, PhiLAB is the first company in the Philippines to own and operate a genomic sequencing facility offering full genome sequencing and molecular diagnostics for research and medical purposes.