By Jenniffer B. Austria

AgriNuRture Inc., a leading exporter of fresh, frozen and processed fruits, plans to list its shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange by the first quarter of the year.

Sources said AgriNurture would push through with the plan through a process called listing by way of introduction. The company listed its shares in the National Stock Exchange of Australia early this month.

AgriNurture is the first Philippine company to list in the Australian stock market. It could also be the first company to list in the PSE this year.

The company last year filed its listing application with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PSE. However, the listing was delayed because of the global financial slump.

The company earlier said that its listing in the PSE was in preparation for a full public offering of its shares of stock.

AgriNurture plans to use proceeds from the planned initial public offering to finance expansion and the acquisition of related food companies in the country and in Asia.

The companyplans to offer 178 million shares.

AgriNurture listed its shares in Australia because its president, Antonio Tiu, is familiar with the country. Tiu is a graduate of the University of New South Wales.

The listing in the Australian market is also expected to give the company a good advantage in its expansion plans in the region.

AgriNurture is a diversified agro-commercial corporation engaged in trading and commercial distribution of agricultural products. It is the country?s top exporter of the much-coveted Philippine carabao mangoes in terms of volume and market coverage.

Founded in 1997 at the height of the Asian financial crisis as Mabuhay 2000, the firm has grown from a small agriculture machinery company with just 11 employees into a corporation with a 1,000-strong workforce and five factories.