Asian Alliance International (AAI), a manufacturer of ready-to-eat food and pet food, expects the company's common shares to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in the first week of November.
With total paid-up capital of 1.7 billion baht, AAI would offer 637.5 million shares from its 1.7 billion total ordinary shares in an initial public offering (IPO) for 5.55 baht each.
In the IPO, 425 million newly issued ordinary shares would be offered to the general public on Oct 21 and Oct 25-26. The remaining 212.5 million shares or 30% would be offered to existing shareholders during Oct 17-21.
The company appointed Tisco Securities and UOB Kay Hian (Thailand) as lead underwriters, together with six co-underwriters comprising Krungsri Securities, Kasikorn Securities, KGI (Thailand), DAOL (Thailand), Maybank Securities and Asia Plus Securities.
After the IPO, SET-listed Asian Sea Corporation Plc (ASIAN), the parent company of AAI, would see its shareholding diluted to 70%.
AAI managing director Aekarat Punnasung said the proceeds from the IPO would be used to expand the company's pet food manufacturing capacity by 40,000 tonnes in the next three years with an investment cost of about 2.2 billion baht.
At present, AAI's total pet food capacity is 42,000 tonnes per year, with a capacity utilisation rate of 85%. Another project is a second automated warehouse scheduled for construction next year to store roughly 15,000-20,000 pallets of goods.
Mr Aekarat said the global pet food industry has continued to expand as demand for pets has increased, particularly among animal-loving millennials and Generation Z, due to urbanisation, and the changing lifestyles of families and childless couples.
"Pets have increasingly become life companions and many people consider their pets to be part of their family," he said.
"Pet owners insist on buying quality food that has nutritional value and health benefits, similar to what they expect from the food that they eat."
Chief financial officer Varanratch Assanupong said AAI has two business groups: pet food for dogs and cats, and ready-to-eat food in sealed containers (for human consumption).
The pet food group includes both wet pet food and pellet pet food under the Monchou and Maria brands targeting customers in the premium market.
The Monchou Balanced and Hajiko brands target mass market and the Pro brand mainly serves customers in the price-competitive market.
AAI's ready-to-eat food products for people to consume include tuna products in seasoning and sauces, as well as cooked food products under its customers' trademarks.
The company also sells byproducts such as fish oil.
