Royal Fidelity Merchant Bank & Trust Limited (“Royal Fidelity”) announced today that Commonwealth Brewery Limited (“CBL”) intends to launch the Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) of 7,500,000 Ordinary Shares opening on Monday, March 21, 2011. The shares will be priced at $8.33 per share, with a minimum subscription of 100 shares. The offering will close on April 15, 2011.
The $62.5 million IPO, which represents 25 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of CBL, will be the first IPO since 2001 and largest equity offering in The Bahamas to date. The remaining 75 percent of the shares will continue to be held by Heineken International B.V., the global brewer headquartered and publicly listed in Amsterdam (under the symbol HEIA:NA).
Michael Anderson, President of Royal Fidelity, noted that “with a market capitalization of approximately $250 million CBL, once listed, will have the third largest market capitalization on BISX and, with an established market leadership position and solid cash flow generation, CBL offers a unique investment opportunity in the Bahamian market.”
In this regard he noted that if the new dividend policy was applied retroactively to 2010, the dividend yield for 2010 would have approximated 7.7 percent.
It should be noted that the commencement of the Offering on March 21, 2011 is still pending approval of the Securities Commission of The Bahamas.
