MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Air Inc., the airline unit of tycoon John Gokongwei, said on Wednesday it had deferred its planned initial public offering (IPO) until after the May 10 national elections.

Cebu Air, which operates the country's top budget carrier Cebu Pacific, will offer 125.25 million new shares at a maximum price of P95, which would raise around P22.3 billion.

Cebu Air was set to hold a domestic and international roadshows for its share sale starting April 5.

Its shares were supposed to be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange on May 3.

Cebu Air is conducting an IPO to raise funds to expand its fleet to better compete with Singapore's Tiger Airways and Malaysia's AirAsia.

It previously said it was spending P9.1 billion for aircraft payments over the next 4 years to boost its fleet to 47 from 29 aircraft by 2014.

The company currently serves 50 domestic routes and 21 international destinations, with a total of 1,710 weekly flights.

Shares of its parent, JG Summit Holdings Inc., fell more than 9% to low of P10 on Wednesday. With a report from Reuters