MEGA Prime Foods Inc., the company behind Mega Sardines, is ready to embark on an initial public offering (IPO), its top executive said, but the timing will depend on when fresh capital from the public will be needed.
"We are ready for the IPO, it's just a matter of when we will do it and if we need to do it, because as we have mentioned before, capital is really not what's important to us" at the moment, Mega Prime President and CEO Michelle Tiu Lim-Chan told reporters on Friday.
She noted that banks had been supporting the company for 50 years, adding that what's important is ensuring that the firm continues to thrive.
"We just need to make sure that our company will last longer, and an IPO might be one of the solutions for that, so we're still talking about it," Lim-Chan added.
Mega Prime Chief Technical and Innovations Officer Marvin Tiu Lim said there were banks that were willing to help the company finance its initiatives.
"Eventually, in the future, if we do go IPO, that will also be a big help for potential acquisitions even abroad," he added.
"With a strong distribution arm, we have around 135,000 direct accounts that we service. It's part of our strategy long term, to horizontally diversify and expand, so this includes acquisitions of different brands that need help, whether partnerships or complete acquisition."
Last year, Mega Prime added Filipino coffee brand Jimm's Coffee Mix to its portfolio as part of its expansion strategy.
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, meanwhile, the company said that it had launched the Mega Milyonaryo raffle promo, under which it will be giving away P50 million in cash and kind to consumers who manage to purchase Mega Sardines cans with special codes on the lid.