Century Pacific raises P2.8b on strong investor interest in equity placement

CENTURY Pacific Food Inc., the Philippines’ largest canned food company owned by the Po family, on Monday announced a P2.8-billion equity placement of about 114 million common shares at a price of P24.60 apiece.

The deal was done via an overnight book-built offering with Century Pacific Group Inc., the parent company of CNPF, as the sole selling shareholder.

CNPF said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the transaction was oversubscribed, anchored by high-quality longonly international and domestic institutional investors.

The transaction was priced at a tight discount of 5.2 percent to last close amid strong demand from investors.

“We are seeing opportunities at the holding company level and will be deploying proceeds across various investments,” CPGI chairman Christopher T. Po said.

Post transaction, CPG will continue to own a majority stake in CNPF with 66-percent stake.

The public ownership of CNPF will increase to 34 percent from 31 percent, which will improve the trading liquidity and allow for greater investor participation in the stock, the company said.

“We do not expect any sale of CNPF shares by CPGI for the foreseeable future. As a majority shareholder, we continue to support the long-term prospects of CNPF,” Po said.

UBS AG Singapore Branch acted as sole placement agent for the transaction.

CNPF grew its first-quarter net income by 6 percent to P1.5 billion as sales rose 6 percent to P15.6 billion.

The company’s main business segments include canned tuna, canned meat, milk, coconut and plant-based products

The share price of CNPF ended lower by P0.95 to close at P25 Monday.