Magnolia, Inc. doubles capital

MANILA, Philippines - Magnolia, Inc., the dairy arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., received regulatory approval last week to double its capital to P1 billion. Magnolia added 350 million class A common shares and 150 million class B common shares worth a peso each, documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed. Of the new shares, San Miguel Purefoods Company, Inc. subscribed to 283.69 million shares, but paid P400 million. SEC documents did not show how proceeds of the share sale would be used. Efforts to reach Magnolia officials were unsuccessful, while a San Miguel spokesman could not immediately provide details. Last week, Ramon S. Ang, chief operating officer and president of San Miguel, said the company would set aside P215 million to build a Magnolia ice cream plant in Laguna. The company currently outsources its ice cream production. Mr. Ang said the company would spend P3.37 billion to expand the Magnolia poultry farm and boost its annual chicken production to 213 million chickens from 188 million. The expenditure is part of San Miguel’s P9.93-billion budget to expand its food business. The total spending is expected to generate half-a-million jobs. — Don Gil K. Carreon, BusinessWorld