Quorn owner Monde Nissin plans record Manila debut share offer

The Philippines’ top instant noodle producer and owner of UK meat substitute maker Quorn plans to raise as much as $1.5bn from what would be a record initial public offering in Manila.

Monde Nissin, which produces Lucky Me! instant noodles and SkyFlakes crackers, said on Thursday in an IPO prospectus that it would sell 3.6bn shares at up to 17.50 pesos each to raise a total of up to 63bn pesos ($1.3bn).

The listing could raise as much as $1.5bn if banks on the deal exercise an option to sell 540m additional shares.

At $1.3bn, the IPO would already be the largest by a Philippine company as well as a record debut share offer in Manila.

Monde Nissin said the funds raised would be used to boost production at its flagship noodle brand in the Philippines and to increase capacity at Quorn, which Mondo Nissin acquired in 2015 for £550m.

Quorn has enjoyed strong demand in recent years, bolstered by high-profile domestic hits including a “vegan-friendly” sausage roll sold at bakery chain Greggs. Quorn has also partnered with Liverpool Football Club to offer meat-free meals on match days.

But it has struggled to turn out enough of its fungus-based meat substitute to move substantially beyond its retail customer base, even as competitors such as Beyond Meat have clinched deals with chains including McDonald’s.

“They just don’t have enough supply; in the US [in particular] that’s really held them back,” said one banker on the deal, pointing to the limited rollout of a Quorn-based vegan burger known as “The Impostor” through a partnership with KFC.

The banker said Quorn was “going to attack the US much more aggressively” once it boosted capacity. Assuming sufficient supply, there was a long list of fast food clients who would “adopt Quorn because it’s competitive on the chicken side”, the banker added.

The listing, which is expected to price in April, would be the latest big offering in what bankers say is on pace to be one of the strongest years yet for IPOs in south-east Asia — one of the first regions outside China to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and which is expected to be among the first to emerge from it.

ThaiBev, the drinks group, is poised to list its brewery business in Singapore in a deal expected to raise about $2bn and potentially value the unit at up to $10bn, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times in January.

The Monde Nissin IPO is a rarity for the Philippines in that the entirety of the base offering will be new shares, rather than being sold off by existing shareholders.

Pre-IPO stakeholders include Betty Ang, the company’s president, and the family of her Indonesian husband — the son of Hidayat Darmono, who founded Indonesia’s dominant biscuit maker Khong Guan.

Both Ang and her extended family keep a notoriously low profile. One banker on the deal described Ang and her relatives as “very, very private”.

Bookrunners on the Monde Nissin IPO include UBS, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.