AgriNurture Inc., the listed agribusiness enterprise of businessman Antonio L. Tiu, is pushing through with a P280 million stock rights offering (SRO) as part of plans to raise P5 billion for expansion.
Tiu told reporters the enterprise will soon submit to regulators the final prospectus of the stock rights offering at the rate of 1 rights share for every 2.5 shares held.
The rights offer, to be underwritten by Abacus Capital and Investment Corp. and meant to raise P280 million, had been delayed by the pandemic. Its board approved the exercise in February 2020.
Tiu said Agrinurture is planning a P2 billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines to fund the development of a P2.6 billion, 20,000-hectare corn plantation in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
He plans selling a yet undetermined number of shares to a new investor as strategic minority shareholder of the company.
Tiu also looks to raise $50 million from the sale of green bonds which was also delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That’s the long term money we can use for capex,” Tiu said of bonds sold after completing the stock rights offer possibly by the second half of the year and the private placement by strategic investors.
Preparations for both the SRO and green bonds sale have already been done even prior to the pandemic.
“We’re not the largest (agribusiness company). Our topline now is just over P4 billion and this is equivalent to our best 10 years ago before I suffered from a crisis in life. So it’s a U-shaped recovery. And now that I have put 100 percent of my attention on ANI, it’s high time for it to take off after the headwinds,” Tiu said.
Agrinurture revenues totaled P4.55 billion in 2021, a slight increase from the previous year’s P4.4 billion.
Net income that year reached P529.03 million, a turnaround from previous year’s loss of P36.83 million.
