Pioneer Foods: listing on the JSE Limited

Paarl / ZA. (pf) This week Pioneer Foods has become South Africa´s fourth-largest food group after its debut on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Its shares traded at 34,50 ZAR in Monday afternoon trade, up 5,3 percent from its open at 32,75 ZAR, valuing the company at 5,9 billion ZAR, the company said. Some 20.180 shares changed hands in 29 deals. Pioneer said its board had approved a 1,2 billion rand capital expenditure plan to fund a number of projects, including boosting its bottling capacity, and expanding its bakery unit and its Weetbix plant. It would raise 500 million ZAR of that in a rights offer. «We have been undersupplying the market, and we want to create capacity to keep service levels high», said Andre Hanekom, managing director of the group. He said the company was waiting for information from South Africa´s Competition Commission, which has found that bakeries owned by Pioneer and competitor Tiger Brands had colluded to raise bread prices to distributors.