Monde Nissin IPO debuts on stock market

MANILA, Philippines — Snack foods giant Monde Nissin Corp. made its historic debut on the Philippine stock market yesterday, marking the biggest Philippine IPO in history and boosting its war chest by P48.6 billion.

Monde Nissin braved the market despite the global health pandemic as it sought funds for its expansion to boost capacity, bring its alternative meat business to the Philippines, and for possible acquisitions or joint ventures with other players in the region.

“We did not want to waste the opportunity. We need capex as early as now. We wanted to get the funds ready to develop our capacity,” said Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto.

The company has earmarked P8 billion for its capital expenditures this year, P9 billion next year and P10 billion in 2023 or a total of P27 billion until 2023, said Jesse Teo, CFO at Monde Nissin.

Prospects for the food business remains rosy, with the growth outlook for Quorn particularly strong because of rising demand for alternative meat, said David Nicol, chief strategy officer.

“The interest in alternative meat is global. We think the time is right to be able to bring Quorn back to the country and we are looking at it in June or July. The potential in Asia is enormous,” Nicol said.

Shares of Monde Nissin slightly fell on their market debut, closing two centavos lower than the inital public offering price of P13.50 per share, even as global institutional investors gobbled up the deal with demand four times oversubscribed.

Philippine Stock Exchange Ramon Monzon welcomed Monde Nissin as the latest addition to the country’s roster of listed companies, noting that it was not only making history as the biggest IPO to list in the Philippines, but also one that puts emphasis on sustainability in its business.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Emilio Aquino likewise commended Monde’s public listing, saying “IPOs deepen the market and lift trading volume.”

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, in his keynote message during yesterday’s listing ceremony, said the IPO is a “testament to the high confidence of investors in the post-pandemic recovery of the Philippine economy.”

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez shared the same view, saying Monde Nissin’s IPO “underlines investors’ confidence in the Philippine economy despite the current pandemic.”

“Monde Nissin’s listing today shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the recent community quarantine lockdowns, we see that the economy is still on track for a V-shaped recovery with macroeconomic indexes pointing towards an overall improved investment climate for 2021,” Lopez said. – Louella Desiderio