Monde Nissin’s P55.9-b IPO wins over 11 major investors

Food manufacturer Monde Nissin Corp.’s initial public offering drew 11 cornerstone investors, including Singapore’s state investment fund GIC Private Ltd. and Hong Kong insurer AIA Group Ltd.

Monde Nissin’s IPO secured commitment from 11 long-term investors who would comprise about 70 percent of the share sale based on the final prospectus filed with the corporate regulators.

Monde Nissin, the company behind Lucky Me! instant noodles in the Philippines and meat alternative Quorn in the UK, priced the IPO at P13.50 per share. The IPO consists of 3.6 billion common shares with an over-allotment option for another 540 million common shares granted by the selling shareholder.

Aside from GIC and AIA, other groups that agreed to invest in Monde Nissin are Stichting Depositary APG Emerging Markets Equity Pool, Avanda Investment Management Pte. Ltd., The Capital Group Funds, Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Limited, FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., M&G Investment Management Limited, NS Partners Ltd and RWC Asset Advisors (US) LLC.

“We are pleased that these world-class investors share our vision of the future and will cornerstone our IPO,” said Henry Soesanto, chief executive of Monde Nissin.

“Their commitment is a strong vote of confidence in our company, strategy and talented team. We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as we accelerate our growth plans for our meat alternative business Quorn, which is a global player in the transformation of sustainably produced healthier food, and extend our leadership position in the Asia-Pacific food and beverage business through continued innovation and constant dialogue with our consumers,” Soesanto said.

Monde Nissin’s P55.89-billion maiden share offering will be the highest on the PSE and the largest food and beverage IPO in Southeast Asia.

The offer period for domestic trading participants and retail investors will be from May 19 to May 25. The shares will be listed on the main board of the PSE on June 1, 2021 under the stock symbol “MONDE”.

Post IPO, Monde Nissin will have a market capitalization of P242.5 billion and a public float of 23 percent.

Net proceeds from the sale of the primary shares will be used to fund capital expenditures, redeem the Arran Convertible Note and repay loans to commercial banks

UBS AG Singapore Branch, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and J.P. Morgan Securities plc are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offering.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp. and First Metro Investment Corporation are the local lead underwriters and joint bookrunners. while China Bank Capital Corp., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. are the domestic co-lead underwriters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier approved the company’s IPO on the PSE.

Aside from Lucky Me! And Quorn, other brands owned by Monde Nissin are SkyFlakes crackers, Fita crackers and Monde baked goods.