Olam International, one of Asia’s biggest agricultural commodity traders and suppliers, has selected London as the primary venue for an initial public offering of its food ingredients unit.
The company, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cocoa beans and products, green coffee and spices, is also preparing a secondary listing of the business in Singapore concurrently, the company said in an exchange filing Friday. In addition, Olam set a timeline to sell shares of another unit in an IPO in the first half of 2023, according to the filing.
The latest moves follow a major overhaul of operations announced last year, which divided the Singapore-based group’s portfolio of products into two segments.
One is the Olam Food Ingredients unit, which consists of cocoa, coffee, edible nuts, spices and dairy, and offers products catering to the growing demand for healthier food. The other is Olam Global Agri, which supplies food, feed and fiber with a focus on Asia and Africa. It includes the grains, animal feed, edible oils, rice, cotton and commodity financial services businesses.
Olam also posted first-half earnings on Friday, showing net profit rose 27 per cent to 421.5 million Singapore dollars (€263.6 million) from a year ago. Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings Pte owns about 46 per cent of the company, while Japanese trading house Mitsubishi holds 15 per cent. – Bloomberg
