[MANILA] Philippine food maker Monde Nissin filed for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise as much as 63 billion pesos (S$1.73 billion) in what could be the nation's biggest ever first-time share sale.

The producer of the country's best-selling instant noodle brand Lucky Me! plans to sell 3.6 billion shares at as much as 17.5 pesos each, according to a filing with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The company could issue as many as 540 million additional shares in an overallotment option, the filing showed.

At US$1.3 billion, the share sale would be the country's largest IPO to date, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

Monde Nissin makes crackers, muffins and biscuits, and has a presence in more than 30 countries, according to its website. In 2015 the Makati-based firm acquired British meat substitute maker Quorn Foods for £550 million (S$1.02 billion).

The company plans to use the IPO proceeds for purposes including loan repayment and general corporate use, according to the filing.

UBS Group, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co are the joint global coordinators of the deal, while the local lead underwriters are BDO Capital & Investment, BPI Capital and First Metro Investment.

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