The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the shelf registration of up to $360 million worth of dollar-denominated preferred shares by fruit grower and canner Del Monte Pacific Ltd.
Del Monte did not provide the timetable of the offering, pending the finalization of rules on the issuance of dollar-denominated securities by Philippine Stock Exchange.
Del Monte will also need the approval of the Bankgo Sentral ng Pilipinas before it could proceed with the offering.
Documents filed with the SEC showed that Del Monte planned to issue 36 million perpetual, cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible series A preferred shares.
The company plans to initially offer 15 million preferred shares at a price of $10 apiece, which will raise $150 million in proceeds.
Another 10 million preferred shares have been set aside for oversubscription, which could potentially generate another $100 million in fresh capital if exercised.
Del Monte will place the remaining 11 million preferred shares under shelf registration, which the company plans to issue within a period of three years from the effective date of the registration statement.
Del Monte’s preferred shares will be listed under the main board of the PSE.
The company plans to use proceeds of the fund raising activity to refinance a $350-million bridge loan with BDO Unibank Inc.
BDO Capital and Investments Corp. is the issue manager and lead underwriter of the offering. Other participating underwriters are BPI Capital Corp., China Bank, PNB Capital and RCBC Capital Corp.
he fruit grower earlier reported that nine-month net income ended January 2016 hit $41.9 million, a turnaround from a net loss of $23.9 million in the same period last year.
Nine-month revenues rose six percent to $1.7 billion on higher sales from the US, Philippines and S&W Asia.
Del Monte said US unit Del Monte Foods, which accounted for 80 percent of group sales, generated revenues of $1.4 billion, up eight percent from a year ago.
The Philippine market also delivered a good results with sales increasing seven percent, driven by the expanded penetration and increased consumption of juices, tomato-based sauces and packaged pineapple products.
Sales of the S&W branded business in Asia and the Middle East grew 16 percent on higher revenues from both the fresh and packaged segments.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Del Monte said it would report a profit for the full year, a significant turnaround from a loss last year.