MANILA, Philippines — Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) on Thursday said it has deferred the initial public offering of its Philippine unit due to “volatile” market conditions.
“Market conditions continue to be volatile and the company has been advised by its bankers and advisors that it would be in the best interest of the company... to defer the offering until such time when market conditions improve,” DMPL said in a statement.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Del Monte Philippines Inc.’s (DMPI) IPO that would raise as much as P17.552 billion in net proceeds.
Under the fundraising activity, DMPI will sell 587.437 million secondary shares at a price of up to P29.88 per share. After the offer, the company will have a public float of 21 percent.
DMPI’s ultimate parent company, DMPL, said it would use the proceeds from the offer to partially repay or prepay debt, as well as for “general corporate purposes.”
DMPL earlier postponed DMPI’s initial plan of tapping the equity market in April “to give way to other big-ticket share sales,” BusinessWorld reported.
DMPL, which is listed on both the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange, is an investment holding company with subsidiaries that are principally engaged in manufacturing of packaged fruits and vegetables, canned fished and fresh pineapple, and tomato-based products, among others.