P72.45-B Monde Nissin IPO gets SEC nod

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cleared the P72.45-billion initial public offering (IPO) planned by food manufacturing giant Monde Nissin Corp., paving the way for what could be the largest maiden offering in the history of the local stock market.

The company behind iconic brands Lucky Me! noodles, Skyflakes crackers, Fita crackers, Monde baked goods and Quorn meat-free products was authorized to sell as much as 3.6 billion common shares at a maximum price of P17.50 a share. The offer comes with an overallotment option of up to 540 million secondary common shares.

Proceeds from the primary offering—which could raise as much as P63 billion—will be used for capital expenditures (P26.52 billion), redemption of a convertible note (P17.31 billion), and repayment of loans (P16.78 billion).UBS AG Singapore Branch, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and JP Morgan Securities plc will serve as joint global coordinators for the IPO, while Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd. will serve as joint international bookrunner, alongside international cobookrunners Jefferies Singapore Limited and Macquarie Capital Securities (Singapore) Pte. Limited. BDO Capital & Investment Corp. BPI Capital Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp. will serve as local lead underwriters. China Bank Capital Corp., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. were also engaged as domestic colead underwriters.

Subject to further approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Monde Nissin aims to run the public offering from May 17 to 21, and list on the PSE on May 31.

The offering will bring about 20 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding capital stock after the offering. About 70 percent of total IPO shares will be offered to the international market.

Using fresh funds from the capital market, Monde Nissin plans to build new capacity and capability both in the Asia-Pacific branded food and beverage as well as the meat alternative business. It plans to complete a new manufacturing facility in Malvar, Batangas province, and invest in new healthy noodles line and others operational efficiency initiatives. The biggest shareholders of the company are: Hartono Kweefanus, the Indonesian chair emeritus with a 29.33 percent stake, and Betty Ang, the Filipino president and director with 22.73 percent. Henry Soesanto has 12.63 percent stake, while My Crackers has 8.55 percent.

In 2020, Monde Nissin’s net sales amounted to P67.9 billion compared to P65.5 billion in 2019. Total comprehensive income amounted to P6.7 billion last year compared to P5.9 billion in 2019.

The branded food and beverage business contributed 77.9 percent of net sales last year. Other brands in its portfolio are M.Y. San Grahams, Mama Sita’s and Dutch Mill.

Among Monde Nissin’s pitch to investors is its leading positions across multiple branded high-growth food and beverage segments, with a dominant position in the instant noodle market and number one position in the biscuit market in the Philippines.

According to Nielsen, in 2020, the group dominated the Philippine instant noodles segment with a market share of 68 percent in terms of retail sales value. In the biscuits segment where the group had seven brands as of end-2020, it ranked first overall, including the crackers and cookies product groups and had a market share of 30.5 percent in terms of retail sales value in the Philippines in 2020. INQ