The maker of Lucky Me! instant noodles is planning an initial public offering worth $1 billion (P48 billion), Bloomberg reported, providing a rare glimpse into the value of the company that produces a Filipino food staple.
How much Lucky Me! do Filipinos consume? It's eaten round the clock either as a replacement for rice or as a rice viand. It's a mainstay in disaster relief bags and ayuda boxes.
Its parent, Monde Nissin, has a wider business that includes subsidiary MY San, the maker of SkyFlakes and Fita crackers, as well as Mama Sita's recipe sauces and popular meat substitue Quorn.
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Deliberations on the IPO are ongoing and Monde Nissin could decide not to proceed, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. Should it push through, the $1 billion stock market debut would be the Philippines' biggest.
In Silicon Valley, a $1 billion valuation is the threshold for a startup to be considered a "unicorn." Companies that passed this include Grab and TikTok parent ByteDance. Converted to pesos, Monde Nissin's $1 billion IPO price could buy four billion packs of Lucky Me! pancit canton calamansi at P11.75 each.
Why did Lucky Me! get so big? Unlike its rivals, Lucky Me! has tapped big-name endorsers and influencers and embraced emerging platforms such as TikTok.
It also markets the instant noodle as a springboard for recipes and embraced Filipinos' love for all things Korean.
