MANILA, March 2 (Reuters) - Nickel miner TVI Resource
Development (Phils.) Inc (TVIRD) has deferred its planned
Philippine listing for a second time to the second half of 2016
due to volatile market conditions, its chairman said.
The miner had initially planned to list on the Philippine
Stock Exchange (PSE) in December last year, before deferring to
Feb. 29 this year due to delays in regulatory approvals.
"While TVIRD has worked diligently with its underwriter and
the regulatory bodies to pursue its IPO and PSE listing, global
markets have been in extreme turmoil since the beginning of
2016," said Clifford James, who is also chairman and CEO of
Canadian miner TVI Pacific Inc TVI.TO .
TVI has a 30.66 percent equity interest in TVIRD, which
began nickel ore exports in 2014 from its Agata mine in Surigao
province in southern Philippines. It is one of the country's 27
nickel mines supplying ore to processing plants in Australia,
China, South Korea and Japan.
James said the market turmoil has made it "very difficult"
for companies in all industries to pursue public offerings.
"We are seeing many planned IPOs being deferred to the
latter half of 2016 to allow time for the markets to settle and
to see the outcome of the presidential elections in the
Philippines (in May)," he said in a statement.
The miner still planned to raise 1 billion pesos ($21
million) from the IPO to to fund a local gold and silver mining
project.
TVI remained optimistic about TVIRD's listing prospects,
James said, despite the still weak outlook for stainless steel
demand and depressed nickel prices.
"The establishment of a public market for TVIRD shares will
allow North American investors to better evaluate the value of
TVI's interest and provide us with an essential source of
non-dilutive funding," he said.