Monde CEO Soesanto bets big on meat alternative business

MANILA, Philippines — Monde Nissin CEO and majority shareholder Henry Soesanto said he and his family would provide financial support to the company’s meat alternative business in the next 10 years to help cushion the impact of the challenges faced by the sector, which was once booming but is now struggling globally.

The support will come from the family holding company MNSG Holdings Pte. Ltd. and is aimed at reducing new impairment losses at wholly owned Singapore subsidiary Monde Nissin Singapore Pte. Ltd., owner of alternative meat company Quorn Foods, for the next 10 years.

The cash top-up, if necessary, will start on Dec. 31, 2023 and will be implemented every year thereafter up to Dec. 31, 2032.

The financial support undertaking is capped by the value of up to approximately 12 percent of Monde’s outstanding shares, or 2.156  billion shares – the top-up limit – belonging to certain controlling shareholders using the weighted average stock price for the last five trading days of the year 2032, net of normal transaction costs, Monde Nissin said in a disclosure late Wednesday.

The reckoning of the final impairment amount will be based on Monde Nissin Singapore’s audited financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2032. Settlement, if any, of the controlling shareholders’ top-up obligation shall be by way of a one-time cash infusion by MNSG Holdings into Monde Nissin Singapore by June 30, 2033.

In a press briefing Wednesday night, Soesanto said it is not yet clear if the family holding company MNSG Holdings would need to raise funds for the financial support as the need for it has yet to be established.

A sale of the meat alternative business to any related party may be an option for Monde Nissin Singapore. In such an event, controlling shareholders’ top-up obligation will be reduced proportionately.

This developed as Monde Nissin reported that core net income attributable to shareholders was recorded at P5.7 billion in the nine-month period, up by 1.1 percent while third quarter core net income came in at P2.2 billion, up 41.4 percent due to the strong recovery of the Asia Pacific branded food and beverage business.