SEC green lights Del Monte PHL's P17.55-B IPO

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday gave the green light for the plan of Del Monte Philippines Inc., the local subsidiary of food and beverage firm Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL), to raise as much as P17.55 billion via an initial public offering (IPO).

The IPO involves 587,437,200 common shares to be sold at P29.88 per share.

After the offer, the company will have a public float of 21 percent, according to the SEC.

"The company will not directly receive any proceeds from the offer," the corporate regulator said.

Del Monte Philippines's parent company DMPL intends to use the proceeds from the offer to prepay/repay certain loan facilities extended to DMPL in the amount of P6.800 billion; repay certain payables to the company amounting to P3.544 billion; to the extent available, allocate up to P6.00 billion to refinance certain financial obligations of the DMPL Group to significantly reduce its leverage position; and cover offer-related costs.

The repayment of these loans will allow the DMPL Group to deleverage and strengthen its balance sheet.

"The balance of proceeds, if any, will be used for general corporate purposes," the SEC said. —NB, GMA News