The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it approved the P20-billion maiden preferred shares offering of food chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp.
Jollibee plans to sell up to 20 million of cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible and redeemable perpetual preferred shares at P1,000 apiece. Jollibee may issue the preferred shares in one or more tranches within three years.
The company will offer up to P8-billion worth of preferred shares, with an over-allotment option of another P4 billion under the first tranche.
Net proceeds for the fund raising activity will be used for the partial redemption of the company’s $250 million out of the $600-million inaugural senior perpetual securities issued in January 2020 and capital expenditures on commissary and store expansion.
Jollibee said wholly-owned subsidiary Zenith Foods Corp. was planning to build a commissary in Cebu to support the business needs in Visayas and Mindanao.
The group also seeks to open 450 new stores both here and abroad this year.
The preferred shares will be listed and traded on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Based on the latest timetable submitted to the SEC, the offer period will be Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2021.
The group hired BPI Capital Corp. as the issue manager for the transaction, which will also serve as joint lead underwriter and bookrunner along with BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp.
The company said the issuance of preferred shares would not change its cash dividend policy.
This will enable JGC to reduce foreign exchange risks and maintain capability to finance profitable growth, which is forecasted to accelerate in the next months and years.
Jollibee is one of Asia’s largest food service companies with 17 brands operating in 33 countries.
It had a store network of 5,816 outlets, of which 3,192 were in the Philippines and 2,624 were overseas, mostly in China and United States, as of end-June.
The share price of Jollibee closed lower by 3.43 percent Friday to P197.