RFM gears up for bond payment

RFM Corporation, one of the country’s leading food and beverage groups, is gearing up to complete its plans for meeting the put payment on its convertible bonds due May 30, 2001.

According to Al G. Roy, RFM chief financial officer, the plans to meet the obligation will include a combination of funds from internally generated cashflows and cash reserves, new loans and sale of non-core assets, in line with RFM’s thrust to focus on its core refreshments businesses.

He also pointed out that the face value of the bond is down to almost half of what was originally issued at $65 million in 1996, as a result of previous purchases of the bond.

However, Roy said the completion of the plan depends on some of the components being finalized within the month of May. He said details of the plan will be properly disclosed in due time.

RFM earlier reported its unaudited financial statements showing an increase in net income, coming from strong cashflows from its key divisions and subsidiaries such as Cosmos Bottling Corp. and Swift Foods Inc. Its beverage subsidiary Cosmos reported a P1.5-billion cashflow in 2000, while its chicken unit Swift Foods Inc. posted cashflows of around P500 million. It’s other businesses like the flour and meat group likewise posted positive cash earnings last year.