Friday 1 February 2013

Olam International

OCBC on 31 Jan 2013

Olam International (Olam) has completed the bond rights issue which also came with free detachable warrants. While the full subscription by the major shareholders Kewalram (20.2% stake) and Temasek (20% stake) will provide near-term assurance, several medium- to long-term issues remain. Besides scrutinizing future acquisitions plans, we believe that investors will also be following the execution of past acquisitions closely. Lastly, our model assumes that Olam does not raise more money to repay the US$600m debt due this year. But even then, we are now projecting higher financing cost, which would result in a 13% fall in our FY13 earnings estimate. Given the still uncertain medium-term outlook, we keep our HOLD rating, but place our S$1.44 fair value under review pending its 2QFY13 results due shortly.

Completes bond rights issue
Olam International (Olam) has completed the rights issue of US$750m in principle amount of 6.75% bonds due 2018, which also came with free detachable warrants. According to the company, it has allotted 748.428m bonds and 387.361m warrants (recall that existing shareholders have the right to subscribe for 313 bonds and 162 warrants), and the residual amount of 1.572m bonds has been taken up by the joint lead managers as these could not be packaged with the requisite number of warrants. 

Listing and trading start 31 Jan
The bonds and warrants will be listed, quoted and traded on the Main Board of the SGX-ST from 9.00am on 31 Jan 2013. For purpose of trading on SGX-ST, each board lot of the bonds will comprise US$1,000 in principal amount, while each board lot of warrants will consist of 1,000 warrants. However, Olam has applied and gotten SGX approval for temporary counters to trade the bonds in board lots of US$100 in principal amount and the warrants in board lots of 100 warrants for a 1-month period.

Some medium- to long-term issues remain
While the full subscription by the major shareholders Kewalram (20.2% stake) and Temasek (20% stake) will provide near-term assurance, several medium- to long-term issues remain. Besides scrutinizing future acquisitions plans, we believe that investors will also be following the execution of past acquisitions closely; and Olam can help with more prompt updates. 

Higher interest cost likely
Lastly, our model assumes that Olam does not raise more money to repay the US$600m debt due this year. But even then, we are now projecting higher financing cost, which would result in a 13% fall in our FY13 earnings estimate. Given the still uncertain medium-term outlook, we keep our HOLD rating, but place our S$1.44 fair value under review pending its 2QFY13 results due shortly.

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