Brandy Maker Emperador Mulls Second Listing in Singapore

(Bloomberg) -- Emperador Inc., the Philippines' biggest liquor company, is exploring a second listing in Singapore that could raise as much as S$1 billion ($742 million), people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Manila-listed company is working with advisers on the potential offering, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. A listing in the city-state could take place as soon as the end of this year, the people said.

Emperador could be joining companies like Malaysia's Top Glove Corp., Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd. and Japanese real estate firm Tosei Corp. in having a second listing in Singapore. Any deal would give a boost to the first-time share sales in the city-state, which hosted only three deals totaling $242 million so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Second listings accounted for about 27% of total market capitalization in the country's bourse in May, Singapore Exchange Ltd. data show.

Emperador is controlled by billionaire Andrew Tan's Alliance Global Group Inc. Its distilled spirits and other alcoholic beverages are available in 55 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and South America, according to Alliance Global's website. The company acquired Whyte and Mackay and Bodegas Fundador in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Shares in Emperador have risen about 20% so far this year in Manila, giving the brandy maker a market value of around 190 billion pesos ($3.8 billion).

Deliberations are at an early stage and details such as timeline and size of the offering could change, the people said. Representatives for Alliance Global and Emperador didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.