MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Purefoods Co. Inc. (SMPFC), the food subsidiary of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp., will raise up to P5 billion from the sale of shares this year.

Under the plan, SMPFC will sell 75 million new shares to the parent or third parties, or via a public offering. The shares will come from the increase in the company's authorized capital stock to P2.46 billion from P1.4 billion.

"We will raise about P5 billion from the relaunch of the shares but we don't have the offer price yet," said SMPFC chief finance officer Zenaida Postrado.

She added, "we want to do this as soon as possible."

SMPFC has appointed JP Morgan to be its financial adviser for the share sale, which is seen to widen the food company's public float to up to 31% from the current 1%.

The company will use proceeds for the acquisition of food-related brands, intellectual property rights, and the San Miguel group's food busines in Vietnam that has yet to be folded under SMFPC.

For 2009, SMFPC's net income amounted to P2.7 billion, an 18-fold increase from P149 million in 2008.

The growth was attributed to improved efficiencies, lower raw material costs, better hedging positions and effective cost management.