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THE
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved during
a regular en banc meeting Thursday, the application of
San Miguel Brewery Inc. (SMB Inc.) to go public in
April.
SMB Inc.
is the beer unit of food and beverage giant San Miguel
Corp. (SMC). The other day, it said it has pared the
price of its initial public offering to a range of P8 to
P15.40 per share.
The new
price target will apply to up to 154.88 million new
shares and up to 1.39 billion in secondary held shares.
SMB Inc.
was mum as to why it lowered the price range but
analysts surveyed by BusinessMirror, however, said the
move was triggered by the current volatility in the
market.
“If they
priced it so high, the appetite may not be there,” said
an analyst requested anonymity.
The
original price range was P9.50 to P16.30 per share.
With the
new price, SMB Inc. may generate gross proceeds of up to
P2.38 billion from the primary shares on the assumption
that investors will buy all on offer at the maximum
price.
The
selling shareholder—in this case parent SMC—will gain up
to P21.5 billion. It will use the money to pay for
debts.
SMB Inc.
will sell its shares to domestic and foreign investors.
The offer period is from April 10. The listing and start
of trading is April 22.
The
company has hired ATR KimEng Capital Partners Inc. and
BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as domestic lead
underwriters, and CitiGroup Global Markets Ltd. and ATR
KimEng as global coordinators, bookrunners and lead
managers.
At the
end of 2007, SMB Inc.’s net profit amounted to P8.015
billion. Net sales grew 8.8 percent to P44.14 billion.
SMB Inc. is the biggest income and revenue contributor
among SMC subsidiaries which include food, hard liquor,
packaging and feed units.
Apart
from SMB Inc., SMC is also listing its packaging unit.
No schedule has yet been set. The unit, according to SMC
president Ramon S. Ang, hopes to raise around $125
million (roughly P5.1 billion) from the shares sale.
SMC is
also consolidating all food-operating units under San
Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc., a listed company.
Should
SMC succeed in its foray into new businesses like mining
and power, the same strategy will apply, added Ang.
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