By Krista A.M. Montealegre,
National Correspondent
DEL MONTE Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) is pushing back the stock market debut of its Philippine unit to give way to other big-ticket share sales in the market.
BDO Capital and Investment Corp. Eduardo V. Francisco said in a mobile phone message Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI) will hold its initial public offering worth a maximum of P16.7 billion next month, later than the initial plan of tapping the equity market in April.
BDO Capital is the issue manager, sole global coordinator and sole book runner.
“Yes (DMPI) is pushing through (with the IPO) but in May,” Mr. Francisco said, citing the combined P110-billion share sale of lenders Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
DMPI is offering a total of 559.464 million shares to the public, or about 20% of its outstanding shares, for up to P29.88 apiece.
Net proceeds of the offer will be used to partially prepay or repay debt, as well as for general corporate purposes.
DMPL has been undertaking a series of fund-raising initiatives aimed at repaying debt incurred to support the $1.68-billion acquisition of US-based Del Monte Foods Corp.’s consumer business, which was later renamed to Del Monte Foods, Inc., in February 2014.
Last December, the company raised $100 million from the sale of Series A-2 preferred shares to settle an outstanding bridge loan from BDO Unibank, Inc. scheduled to mature in February 2019.
DMPL, which is listed on both the PSE and the Singapore Stock Exchange, said it will seek the approval of its shareholders for the IPO through an extraordinary general meeting. Following the maiden share sale, DMPL will keep around 67% of its shareholdings in DMPI.
DMPI is an indirect subsidiary of DMPL through Del Monte Pacific Resources Ltd.’s Central American Resources, Inc. It sells canned pineapple juice and juice drinks, canned pineapple and tropical mixed fruits, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce and tomato ketchup.
Del Monte Pacific has the rights to the Del Monte brand for packaged products in the United States, South America, Philippines, the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar, and the S&W brand for both packaged and fresh products globally except Australia and New Zealand.

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