Oishi listing speculation hits stock market

As the stock market sizzled to hit another psychological milestone at 8,000 points, attention is now being focused on the next IPO (initial public offering) darling – Oishi snack and beverage producer Liwayway Marketing Corp.
Punters are betting on a Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) listing for the local company, headed by Ambassador Carlos Chan, chairman of the Liwayway combine.

In fact, one listed stock sizzled, going up more than four times, as market rumors cited a possible backdoor entry for the successful Oishi company. This despite a report from Forbes Philippines that it is eyeing a Hong Kong listing.

The possible Hong Kong listing is plausible, as there are now 16 plants in scattered all over China, the latest of which was inaugurated in August last year in Jinan City, the capital of Shandong.

Located in the Jibei Development Zone, the Oishi plant is servicing eight cities in Shandong, a province with a population equal to that of the Philippines, and which now has a growing middle class.

Chan told me the company has invested $20 million in the plant where he was able to put to work his early passion on architecture. What he designed was a 285-meter walkway located at the center of factories churning out separate Oishi products that have earned quite following in China.

The covered walkway works as a packaging facility for the two separate factories. The Oishi Shandong factory employs 385 workers who go to work in motorcycles and some in cars in what Ambassador Chan said as a sign of a growing middle class in China.

There are now over 8,000 employees of Liwayway China Co. Ltd., which has its headquarters in a 20-hectare facility in Shanghai, where Chan usually takes his visitors to unravel the Oishi success story.

Oishi started in the early 1990s and it immediately hit pay dirt with the successful launch of its signature product, the Oishi prawn crackers. Later on, it expanded into other products and even ventured into the beverage business.

What is remarkable about Oishi’s success story is that it never forgot its Philippine roots. Ambassador Chan travels with a Philippine flag proudly flying in his car’s hood. He has also a flagpole in its Shanghai headquarters with the Philippine tricolor fluttering in the wind.

Chan’s emphasis on having the Philippine flag proudly displayed in the company’s factories was one reason its Vietnam factory building was spared when angry Vietnamese crowds went on a burning spree. An unruly crowd saw the Philippine flag and skipped destroying its headquarters.

There have been remarkable stories about the way Chan takes cares of his people. In fact, one of his managers, Peter Lee, is very appreciative of the fatherly figure that Chan exudes in his dealings with Oishi employees.

Officials from China are appreciative, too, of Chan’s success story since it means the employment of its citizens that, in a way, accounts for a rise in its economic might.
Having earned the prestigious Shanghai and China Famous brands, Oishi commands a following in business and government circles.

According to Chan, it helps that Oishi has been recognized as a Shanghai Famous Brand in 2001 and then a China Famous Brand five years later. To get the award meant a brand should be in the Top 5 of the industry and should have earned consumer trust and its standard of quality should be tops.

This is the reason Oishi was wooed by the Jibei Development Zone to locate in the burgeoning province whose per-capita income is the third highest in China. Incentives were given to the Oishi plant as having the name brand in the export zone meant it could attract other locators.

The Jibei Development Zone has been trying to attract locators to the area as it meant that its residents could be gainfully employed. The incentives include even the offer of soft loans.

Oishi’s remarkable narrative is one reason even the stock market is agog over its success. Thus, its eventual IPO listing whether in Hong Kong or the Philippines is being awaited.