Emperador going public through Touch Solutions?

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Emperador Distillers Inc., the biggest liquor company in the Philippines, announced a deal with technology firm Touch Solutions, Inc. that hints of a backdoor listing move.   

Emperador’s parent firm, Alliance Global Group Inc., disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, August 29, that a deal has been reached with Touch Solutions on Wednesday.

It involves the transfer of the shares of Emperador into Touch. Alliance subscribed 15 billion new shares of Touch at par value. It will then transfer its shares in Emperador to Touch Solutions. 

Touch Solution’s corporate name would be changed to Emperador Inc.

The Philippine Stock Exchange immediately suspended the trading of Touch Solutions’ shares, pending submission of additional information regarding the planned backdoor listing.

Under the PSE rules, a backdoor listing occurs when a listed company acquires or mergers or combines with an unlisted company, or when a listed company is acquired by merged or combined with an unlisted firm. These tend to result in a substantial change in the business, membership of directors or ownership structure of the company.

Tan and other Alliance Global and Emperador Distillers officials were elected new board of directors of Touch Solutions. Emperador Distillers president Winston Co. and Alliance Global president Kingson Sian were among them.

Emperador as global brand

Emperador is the liquor arm of tycoon Andrew Tan who controls conglomerate Alliance. The group, roup Inc., which has interests in liquor, real estate, resorts and gaming, and fast food restaurants, is grooming  Emperador to become a global brand. 

Emperador has been buying more vineyards and brandy stocks in Spain. Its unit Emperador International acquired a Spanish brandy company, Bodega San Bruno. 

Emperador is the biggest brandy producer in the world by volume, but still sells almost all of its products in the Philippines. It sold over 31 million cases of brandy in 2012 and expects to sell the same amount this 2013. The company’s flagship liquor product is the mass-market Emperador Brandy. – Rappler.com