AGI pegs Emperador offer price at P8.98/share

MANILA, Philippines - Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) has finalized the selling price of a portion of its shares in the world’s top brandy maker Emperador Inc.

AGI said it pegged the offering price for the 1.8 billion common shares in TrillionStars Holdings Inc. (TSI), the backdoor listing vehicle of Emperador, at P8.98 per share.

“At the price of P8.98 per share, the offering will raise gross proceeds of approximately P16.2 billion (approximately $371 million),” AGI said.

Proceeds from the share sale will finance the expansion program of Emperador, the company said in a disclosure.

The final price is at the lower end of the P8.96-P11.74 price range during the book-building process.

“Pursuant to a share subscription agreement between AGI and TSI, approximately P11.2 billion ($257 million) of these gross proceeds will go to TSI to be used to fund the growth of Emperador,” AGI said.

“The offering attracted strong interest from a wide range of domestic and international investors, including high quality institutional investors as well as ultra-high net worth investors,” AGI said.

The offer shares represent 12 percent of the total issued shares of TSI, which will be renamed Emperador. The settlement date for the offering is scheduled on Sept. 25.

“We are very pleased to have established a separate listed platform for Emperador and created a strong base of high quality international and domestic shareholders via the offering,” said AGI and TSI chairman Andrew L. Tan.

“Emperador will not rest on its laurels. We have aggressive and exciting growth plans and the listing and equity raising will put Emperador in a strong position to execute these plans,” Tan said.

At the offering price of P8.98 per share, TSI’s market capitalization will be valued at roughly P135 billion ($3.09 billion), making it one of the top 20 largest listed companies on the local bourse, AGI said.

Given the high market capitalization of Emperador, “chances are high that the stock would eventually be a Philippine Stock Exchange index constituent, luring at least index funds to load it up,” brokerage firm RCBC Securities Inc. said in a market commentary.

“In addition, it is a welcome addition to the few listed consumer stocks around,” it added.

Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is the sole global coordinator, sole bookrunner and lead manager for the offering.

Emperador is the fifth listed firm of property tycoon Tan. Investment holding firm AGI and property developers Megaworld Corp., Suntrust Home Developers Inc. and Empire East Land Holdings Inc. are already public companies.

Early last month, Emperador committed to invest P5.8 billion in Spain as part of its plan to become a significant global brand. It earlier acquired 100 percent of Spanish brandy maker Bodega San Bruno, including the San Bruno trademark that has been registered since 1942.