News
Food Empire Holdings Limited IPO 4.2 Times Subscribed
SINGAPORE - 25 April 2000 - Food Empire Holdings Limited, a home-grown food and beverage manufacturer and marketer of instant beverage products, announced that its offer shares tranche has been approximately 4.2 times subscribed.
At the close of the Invitation at noon on 25 April 2000, there were 4,739 applications, for an aggregate of 72,080,000 shares, received for the 17.2 million offer shares available to the public. The 68.8 million placement shares and 8.6 million reserved shares were successfully placed.
The manager of the issue is UOB Asia Limited while the underwriter and placement agent is United Overseas Bank Limited.
"We are pleased with the response to our share offer especially when we were faced with challenging global market sentiments in the last two weeks," said Mr Tan Wang Cheow, Managing Director of Food Empire Holdings Limited. "We see a big growth potential in tapping the huge populations of Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Indochina. By leveraging on our wide distribution network and brand equity, we intend to strengthen our market positions in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Indochina, and to introduce new products to meet the consumer needs of our key markets."
The net proceeds arising from the issue of new shares is estimated at S$10.3 million which will be used for the following:
About Food Empire Holdings
Food Empire Holdings is principally involved in the manufacture and sale of instant beverage products and its main product is coffee-based ready-mixed instant beverages in sachets (black coffee, coffee with creamer and cappuccino). Food Empire Holdings offers more than 40 products - including instant chocolate, tea-based products, coffee bags and breakfast cereals - marketed under the Group's exclusive brands of "MacCoffee", "Temasek Royal", "Klassno", "Express", and "Fesbrew". These products are manufactured at the Group's three manufacturing plants located in Singapore, Johor Bahru and Penang.
Food Empire Holdings has successfully established strong footholds in key markets in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Indochina. It is on of the first few companies to introduce the concept of instant beverage in Russia where sales now accounts for nearly 64% of group turnover. Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the second major market, account for a quarter of the Group's sales. The Group's third major market is Indochina, namely Myanmar and Vietnam.
Food Empire Holdings currently has representative offices in five countries and liaison arrangements in another four countries. Today, the Group's products are sold in more than 30 countries.
Food Empire's business has grown significantly during the past five years. Turnover has increased from S$17.7 million for FY1995 to S$39.4 million for FY1999 while net earnings after tax have increased from S$723,000 in FY1995 to S$3.7 million for FY1999. Total assets have grown from S$4.7 million as at 31 December 1995 to S$27.5 million as at 31 December 1999.
