25/5/2018 – Del Monte Philippines Inc (DMPI) has yesterday received approval from Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) on their plan to raise up to P17.55 billion (about US$333 million) via its initial public offering (IPO).
According to a statement from SEC, it has approved Del Monte’s IPO which involves an offering of 587.437 million secondary shares, representing 21 percent of the firm’s outstanding capital stock, that can be purchased at P29.88 ($0.55) per share.
Investment house BDO Capital & Investment Corp. has been appointed as the issue manager, sole global coordinator, and sole bookrunner for the offering.
The offer shares will be sold by selling shareholder Central American Resources Incorporated (CARI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Del Monte Pacific Resources Ltd, which in turn is wholly owned by DMPL.
“The company will not directly receive any net proceeds from the offer. No amount of the proceeds will be used to reimburse any officer, director, employee for services rendered, assets previously transferred, money loaned or advanced, and otherwise,” said the country’s corporate regulator.
The group aims to raise funds from the proposed public offering to partially prepay or repay certain loan facilities.
“The balance of proceeds, if any, will be used for general corporate purposes. The prepayment of such loan will allow the DMPL group to deleverage and strengthen its balance sheet,” said a spokesperson from DMPL.
This would mark the second IPO in the Philippines this year following the approval by the SEC on the application of construction and property developer DM Wenceslao earlier this month.
Del Monte Philippines Inc is the wholly-owned Philippine subsidiary of global branded food and beverage firm Del Monte Pacific Limited. With this IPO, the company will be dually listed on the Philippines Stock Exchange and Singapore Exchange Ltd.
The company runs the production and sale of food and beverage products in the Philippines under the Del Monte brand while exports are managed under the S&W brand. Their range of products include juice drinks, packaged pineapple, mixed fruits, various tomato, spaghetti sauces, and culinary mixes.
On the other hand, DMPI also operates one of the world’s largest fully-integrated pineapple operations and has been growing and processing pineapple for over 90 years, supporting its market leadership and high-quality products.
