Monde Nissin Corporation marked its debut at the Philippine Stock Exchange by ending just one fluctuation lower than its initial public offering price despite the weakness of the equities market.

Monde Nissin Corporation lists shares at Philippine Stock Exchange

The stock traded at a range of P13.46 to P13.56 per share before closing at P13.48 apiece, slightly lower than its IPO price of P13.50.

Monde Nissin raised P48.6 billion from its offering of 3.6 billion shares with an over allotment option of 540 million shares.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Emilio Aquino said “Monde Nissin IPO offering is worth as much as P48.6 Billion—the largest IPO in Southeast Asia this year so far.”

He added that, “This could hopefully help regain the confidence of the investing public on the PH stock market; as well as stir up our economy considering that majority of its proceeds from the offering will be used for capital expenditures in its operations in the Philippines.”

“The success of this offering is clearly a vote of confidence from institutional and retail investors, foreign and locals alike,” said PSE President Ramon Monzon.

He added that, “I wish to thank Monde Nissin for choosing to raise capital through the Philippine Stock Exchange. The confidence it showed in going public at this time, will surely encourage other companies considering to IPO to do the same.”

“Today is a milestone moment in our history as we accelerate our mission to improve the well-being of people and the planet, and create sustainable solutions for food security,” said Monde Nissin Chief Executive Officer Henry Soesanto.

He noted that, “We begin life as a public company with significant momentum – our Quorn and Asia-Pacific Branded Food and Beverage businesses are performing well and are poised to capture the tremendous market opportunities that lie ahead.”

“As a recognized leader in the meat alternatives industry, Quorn is at the forefront of the global shift towards sustainably produced food for health- and environmentally-conscious consumers,” Soesanto said.

Monde Nissin Chief Strategy Officer David Nicol said the global meat alternative market has an “explosive” potential to grow 10 times its current size or 1,000 percent to about $140 billion in 10 years.

Soesanto said “We also benefit from our market leading positions across the core segments of our Asia-Pacific Branded Food and Beverage business. Our proven ability to advance our products by leveraging innovation and investments in technology to provide healthier and more delicious food allows us to stay ahead of evolving consumer demands and strengthens our ability to expand into new markets.”

He noted that, while the company already has a controlling 70 percent market share of the Philippine instant noodle market, per capital consumption is still very low and, thus, still has huge potential for growth.

“Today we have our own new technology which can reduce the oil (content) by 70 percent but this does not change the taste at all. This is a breakthrough technology, we are the first one and could be the only one in the world. So using this technology, we hope that the consumption can increase,” Soesanto said.

He added that, “using this technology we can go elsewhere, where palm oil is expensive or not welcome. So countries like Thailand, Australia and other countries where palm oil is expensive.”

#David Nicol

Monde Nissin banks on explosive growth of Quorn