PureFoods eyes return to capital market

San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. is considering to return to the capital market as early as this year to widen its public ownership and boost its war chest for expansion.

This is in line with PureFoods’ P56-billion expansion program for the next three years, company president Francisco Alejo III said in a briefing after the company’s stockholders meeting yesterday.

“We are studying it, if we can do it this year or next year,” Alejo said, adding that the exercise would depend on market conditions.

Alejo said PureFoods would also want to increase its public ownership to meet the higher requirement being planned by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PureFoods—currently valued by the stock market at P50 billion—has about 14.6 percent of its shares held in public.

Alejo said the offering would likely be a combination of primary and secondary shares.

Beyond the P56-billion expansion planned by PureFoods in the next three years, Alejo said the company was also planning to build more feed mills, processing plants and other facilities.

Confident that the domestic market will continue to flourish, Alejo said PureFoods was embarking on a “massive expansion program never before seen in San Miguel Pure Foods history.”

“Our appetite for growth has never been this big. During the year (2016), we spent more than P6 billion to start building state-of-the-art feed mills, a bigger and more advanced processed meats plant and additional flour milling capacities,” Alejo said. “These facilities will start operating in the next three years.”—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA