Emperador seeks secondary listing in Singapore bourse

Liquor maker Emperador Inc. said Thursday it filed an application for a secondary listing on the main board of the Singapore Exchange.

Emperador, controlled by billionaire Andrew Tan, said the application is subject to review and approval of the SGX. The company did not disclose other details of the planned dual listing.

“This is a significant momentous event for Emperador. Singapore, one of the world’s major financial hubs, will provide a broader audience and greater access to international investors,” Emperador chief executive Winston Co said.

“The eventual listing in Asia’s leading exchange will also provide a platform to showcase Emperador as a global spirits company,” Co said.

Emperador earlier said it would continue to maintain its primary listing in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

PSE chairman Jose Pardo said Emperador’s planned dual listing would be a good way to promote the company’s global brands and products in an important, growing consumer market.

“This dual listing bodes well, and is in fact timely, since SGX and PSE have started to work on a joint initiative to establish a PSE-SGX Connect whereby index stocks of PSE can be traded in SGX and vice versa,” Pardo said.

Emperador’s manufactured distilled spirits and other alcoholic beverages are available in 55 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

The company acquired Whyte and Mackay and Bodegas Fundador in 2014 and 2015 as part of its overseas expansion plan.

Emperador chalked up a net income of P5.08 billion in the first half, up 53 percent from P3.32 billion recorded in the same period last year.

First-half revenues jumped 18 percent to P25.3 billion, fueled by strong sales from international markets.

Sales of brandy products, which accounted for 65 percent of total first-half sales, went up by 10 percent to P16.3 billion. Revenues from Scotch Whisky, which accounted for the remaining 35 percent of total sales, jumped 35 percent to P9 billion.

Co said the company was expecting its brandy business led by Fundador to continue to grow by double digits in the UK, US, Canada, Spain, Mexico, Canada and Asia including the Philippines.

The company’s whisky business is also expected to continue to pace strongly in regional markets led by North America, Europe and Asia, including China.