Del Monte’s iced IPO awaits more fruitful market

Dole

04/08/2021 03:48

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are their own.)
    HONG KONG, Aug 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Del Monte Pacific
 DMPL.SI  has put the $900 million float of its Philippines
business on ice as Manila fights a surge  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PA3W6 in
coronavirus cases that has knocked about 7% off its stock market
in the past month. The deal would have been the country’s
second-largest initial public offering and proceeds would have
helped pay down debt for the Singapore-listed group. 
    Del Monte is familiar with the effect of poor markets,
having called off a spinoff attempt three years ago for similar
reasons. This time however the market wobbles have a global
taste: Last week produce giant Dole  DOLE.N  dropped 6%
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2P63PF on its New York debut. 
    Dole’s deal, as with Del Monte’s, was only the latest twist
in the endless slicing and dicing  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2NY088 of the brands.
Both have been traded, floated and taken private multiple times.
Perhaps investors are souring more generally on a process where
advisors pocketing fat fees are the only clear winners. (By
Jennifer Hughes) 
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 (Editing by Antony Currie and Katrina Hamlin)
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