Pure Foods to hold P15-B pref share offer in February

MANILA, Philippines –  San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. (SMPFC), the food processing arm of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp., will hold its planned P15 billion preferred share offering next month and list these shares on March 4.

SMPFC has obtained the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval for the registration of 15 million non-voting and non-convertible preferred shares which will be sold to local institutional and retail investors at P1,000 apiece. The offering has been set on Feb. 14 and will run until Feb. 25.

The company has tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., RCBC Capital Corp., SB Capital Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank as joint issue managers and lead underwriters for the share sale. ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc., on the other hand, is the financial advisor.

Dividends on the preferred shares shall be at a fixed rate of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent per annum calculated in respect of each share. Payment dates for the dividends are March 4, June 4 , Sept. 4 and Dec. 4 of each year.

The company plans to allocate as much as P11.235 billion of the total proceeds for investment in SMPFC’s foray into new businesses which include power, water and other utilities, and infrastructure.

SMPFC, which owns the Pure Foods, Magnolia, Monterey, Star, San Mig Coffee and B-Meg brands, also intends to use around P3.61 billion of the net proceeds to repay a payable to SMC relating to the brands acquisition and the Vietnam acquisition. The remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate needs.

Pending finalization of a definite investment plan, the company intends to invest in liquid money market instruments.

SMPFC’s main businesses are poultry, feeds, fresh meats, value-added meats, flour and dairy, spreads and oil. Other ventures include coffee, food service and development of retail outlets as well as regional operations in Indonesia and Vietnam.