Jerry Liu’s Figaro Coffee to sell shares to outside investors

MANILA  -Businessman Jerry Liu’s Figaro Coffee Group is preparing to take on more investors to help bankroll its long-term expansion after tycoon Betty Ang’s food conglomerate Monde Nissin Corp. acquired a 15-percent stake early this year.

The company, which owns Angel’s Pizza and Figaro Coffee, said on Friday its board of directors approved the sale of up to 20 percent of the firm to “potential third-party investors or various investors” although the terms have not yet been finalized.

It has about 180 company-owned and franchised restaurant outlets as of October this year.

READ: Monde Nissin takes 15% slice in Figaro Coffee

“The potential investments are intended to fund store openings and expansion beyond 2024, and will be presented to the company’s shareholders for approval and delegation of authority to the board to determine the details and terms of the proposed investments,” Figaro Coffee said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.

The sale will take the form of a new share issuance, which would dilute or reduce the effective ownership stake of current stockholders.

Follow-on public offering

Apart from this, Figaro Coffee approved plans for a follow-on or public offering of common shares.

It may also choose to raise funds via the sale of preferred shares, which typically grants holders priority treatment in dividend payouts.

“This will be presented to the company’s shareholders for approval and delegation of authority to the Board to determine the details and terms of the proposed follow-on/public offering depending on business needs and prevailing market conditions,” the company said in the stock exchange filing.

Figaro Coffee earlier said its financial results for the first nine months of its fiscal year last March showed systemwide sales growing 70 percent to P3.1 billion while net income rose 56 percent to P379.66 million.

In January, Monde said it would acquire 15 percent of Figaro Coffee. The deal would help grow Monde’s portfolio while creating distribution opportunities for its food products such as Lucky Me! Instant noodles and Quorn meat substitutes.
Monde is Figaro Coffee’s second-biggest stockholder after Liu’s Group, whose Camerton Inc. and Carmetheus Holdings owned nearly 60 percent of the company as of June 2023.