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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
DESPITE lingering volatility, a company that
supplies the Philippines’ largest supermarket chain and exports
fresh and processed fruits and vegetables is braving the market and
plans to sell shares to the public this year to raise funds for
expansion and brand acquisition.
AgriNutri Inc. (ANI) recently announced that it
would be tapping the equities market to raise P800 million to P1
billion. It plans to sell up to 20 percent of the company’s total
authorized capital stock to the public, 70 percent of which would be
offered to domestic buyers and the rest to offshore investors.
The company however has yet to set a firm
timetable as it waiting for the volatile markets to settle down to
get a fair value for its shares, Antonio L. Tiu, ANI chief executive
told reporters. He said he is upbeat about the prospects of the
company since it would be the first agricultural firm to list at the
Philippine Stock Exchange. The executive expects robust investor
appetite for the company’s shares since ANI is a high-growth firm.
Tiu said that proceeds of the initial public
offering would go to expanding its farming operations, which at
present provides 5 percent to 10 percent of the company’s required
produce for clients like SM Hypermart and SM Supermarkets—through
the SM Bonus brand—Marca Piña and Lipa Buko. About 90 percent of
its fresh fruits and vegetable requirements come from other farms.
The executive said the fresh capital would allow
the firm to increase its farm holdings so that 50 percent of its
fresh produce would come from its own farms. The company is banking
on the passage of a law recognizing real- estate investment trusts (REIT),
which would allow ANI to venture into mass-scale farming, which is
not viable due to land ownership constraints under existing laws.
Besides boosting farm operations, ANI also plans
to acquire a juice brand. The acquisition would further bolster the
company’s export segment, which includes shipments of coconut
juice, coconut vinegar, coconut gel (nata de coco), mango nectar and
sweetened mango puree and fresh fruits to mainland China and Hong
Kong—its biggest market outside the Philippines – the US,
Canada, Australia and Europe. This year, ANI also began exporting to
Singapore and the Middle East.
In recent years, ANI has been registering P1
billion in annual sales with exports accounting for 20 percent of
the total. By year-end, Tiu estimates that sales would hit P5
billion.
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