Simonds Farsons Cisk plc is planning to hive off its property investments that are not directly related to its core food and beverage business into a separate public company to be quoted on the Malta Stock Exchange.

The new plc is scheduled to be set up in 2017 and will own properties including the brewery façade, Trident House site at Marsa, the properties housing the franchised food businesses, and the properties being leased out to third parties.

Speaking during a review meeting with stockbrokers and financial analysts about the recently announced financial results, the group’s chairman Louis Farrugia said that the restructuring objective is to ensure the best use of the group’s property portfolio with a view to maximise shareholder value.

The plan is for the food and beverage business to retain its core operational property assets, such as the land and buildings at Mrieħel, the old brewhouse and other properties currently being used by the business.

Full development applications, including detailed designs for Farsons Business Park, were submitted to Mepa last week. The project is planned to start in mid-2016 and will be completed by 2020. When completed, the project is expected to result in an investment by the group of over €40 million.

A presentation on the Farsons Business Park and the proposed restructuring will be delivered to shareholders at the SFC annual general meeting next month.