Emperador formalizes listing at Singapore bourse

SINGAPORE – Business tycoon Andrew Tan’s liquor company Emperador Inc. listed yesterday on the main board of the Singapore Exchange, making it the first Philippine Stock Exchange-primary listed company to conduct secondary listing on SGX.

Emperador’s listing on SGX will allow the world’s biggest manufacturer, bottler and distributor of brandy, Scotch whisky and other alcoholic beverages to widen its investor base to a global market.

“The secondary listing of Emperador on the SGX is truly a milestone for the company and reinforces the globalization of Emperador,“ said Andrew Tan, chairman of the board of directors of Emperador.

For his part, Emperador director Kevin Tan said the SGX listing “crystallizes what Emperador truly means for us.”

Bryan Donaghey, chief executive officer of Whyte & Mackey and head of Whisky Business at Emperador, said the SGX listing “reflects the international nature of Emperador. It gives us an opportunity to talk to more investors.”

The listing, he said, would give international bankers a chance to look at the profitability of the stock.

“The company will fund its organic growth and its expansion plan for 2020 to 2025 already projects that as much as 50 percent of the Emperador earnings will come from outside the Philippines,” Donaghey said.

He said Emperador is looking at China and the US as its primary markets.

Emperador’s performance, he said, has been stellar during the pandemic, with 2020 and 2021 posting banner earnings. 2022 is expected to be another banner year for the company.

SGX chief executive officer Loh Boon Chye, echoed Donaghey’s observation that Emperador’s listing in Singapore provides the company opportunities to grow and seek “global capital.”

Loh said SGX has been able to raise up to S$200 billion for companies that have listed on the bourse.

It would likewise allow Emperador, he said, to “access regional retail market” in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in the global market as well.

Loh acknowledged concerns about possible arbitrage trade in which investors may trade the Emperador stock in different locations to earn a profit on the price differential between markets, admitting that there are always “slight differences” in terms of currency and liquidity pool.

The SGX listing of Emperador will be subject to Philippine tax rules.

Emperador is a subsidiary of Alliance Global Group, Inc., a publicly listed conglomerate in the Philippines with diversified investments in real estate development, food and beverage, quick-service restaurants, and tourism-entertainment and gaming business.