PSE approves Del Monte Philippines’ P17.55-B IPO

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday gave Del Monte Philippines Inc. the green light to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) valued at P17.55 billion.

 “On May 30, 2018, the Exchange approved the application of Del Monte Philippines Inc. for the initial listing of up to 2,797,320,002 common shares covering the company’s initial public offering,” the PSE said in a notice.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave Del Monte Philippines’ IPO the thumbs up.

Securing both PSE and SEC approvals, the local subsidiary of food and beverage firm Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) is now set to make a debut in the stock market.

The company is offering 587,437,200 common shares at a maximum price of P29.88 apiece. The final price setting date is on June 6.

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

The IPO shares will be offered to investors on June 8 to 18, with the listing on the PSE main board targeted for June 25.

“The Exchange will advise the investing public of further developments the IPO of the company,” the PSE said.

Parent company DMPL intends to use the proceeds from the share sale to prepay and repay certain loan facilities in the amount of P6.800 billion, and settle certain payables totaling P3.544 billion.
If available, up to P6.00 billion will refinance certain financial obligations of DMPL Group to significantly reduce its leverage position.

By settling its financial obligations, DMPL Group believes it will be able to deleverage and strengthen its balance sheet.

BDO Capital & Investments Corp., BPI Capital Corp., and China Bank Capital Corp. were tapped as lead underwriters for the share sale. —VDS, GMA News