SL Agritech eyes PSE listing in third or fourth quarter

Hybrid seed producer SL Agritech will try to raise as much as P2 billion for its expansion here and abroad by selling shares to the public for the first time in the third or last quarter. "We’re looking at [going public in] the third or fourth quarter, after the elections. It’s about time [we] tap the capital market," company President and Chief Executive Officer Henry Lim Biong said. SL Agritech has tapped the Center for Global Best Practices as its financial adviser for the listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange. Antonio Herbosa, managing director of the Center for Global Best Practices, said SL Agritech would seek to increase its shares to a billion with a par value of a peso each. The company now has 3 million shares with a par value of P100 each. The agricultural company expects net profits of P120-P150 million for the fiscal year ending on May 31, said Jocelyn Sia Farnacio, vice-president of parent Sterling Paper Group of Companies. Gross revenues, she added, could reach P900 million. SL Agritech earns from royalties from its hybrid rice technologies, aside from the sale of specialty rice. The company is eyeing as much as P10 billion in net sales for both rice and rice seeds by 2015. Lim said the company was aiming to earn P5 billion from the sale of specialty rice variants such as Jasponica in the next three to five years. He also said the company might enter into a joint venture with an Indian firm for seed production. SL Agritech on Tuesday signed a deal with the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corp. to propagate as much as 500 metric tons of hybrid rice in Bangladesh. SL Agritech has been supplying majority of Bangladesh’s hybrid seed requirements. It also supplies Indonesia with the same hybrid seed lines. The company plans to expand its hybrid seed production to Vietnam starting next year. Talks with China bogged down recently. SL Agritech produces premium Doña Maria Jasponica and Miponica rice. Jasponica is a crossbreed between Japanese Japonica rice and Thailand’s Jasmin rice, while Miponica is a crossbreed between local Milagrosa rice and Japonica rice. — NPA, GMANews.TV