(April 14): Singaporean food conglomerate Olam Group Ltd said it will use proceeds from the recent stake sale in its agribusiness unit to pay off debt, sending its shares up 4% on Monday.

The group in February agreed to sell a controlling stake in Olam Agri to state-owned Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Co for up to US$2.58 billion (RM11.41 billion). Olam will spend about US$2 billion of that to deleverage its balance sheet, making it “debt-free and self-sustaining”, according to an emailed statement.

Olam, which is one of the world’s biggest cocoa and coffee merchants, also plans to invest US$500 million of equity into its ingredients business, Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), for which it’s planning a concurrent listing in Europe and Singapore “at an appropriate time”.

The debt repayment comes as a range of commodities, including cocoa and coffee, see wild price swings amid deepening uncertainties about global trade.

Olam’s founder and CEO Sunny Verghese has been restructuring the majority Temasek Holdings Pte-owned company since 2020, with the aim of splitting the group’s assets and listing them separately. The company will divest and monetise all remaining assets over time and progressively distribute net proceeds to shareholders via special dividends, it said in the statement.

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