Robinsons acquires Rustan’s grocery business for P18 B
By James Loyola
The Gokongwei’s Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) is acquiring Rustan Supercenters Inc. (RSCI) from Pan-Asian retail giant Dairy Farm Group through a share-swap deal valued at P18 billion.
RRHI logo (photo courtesy of www.robinsonsretailholdings.com.ph)
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RRHI said it has agreed to partner with Dairy Farm “to build a leading food retail business.”
The respective Boards of Directors of RRHI and Mulgrave Corporation B.V (MCBV) approved the acquisition by RRHI of MCBV’s 100 percent stake in RSCI through a share for share swap involving shares of RSCI in exchange for primary common shares of RRHI.
RSCI operates food retail brands Marketplace by Rustan’s, Rustan’s Supermarket, Shopwise Hypermarket, Shopwise Express and Wellcome in the Philippines.
MCBV is wholly-owned member of Dairy Farm International Holdings, Ltd. Group of companies which is a unit of Hong Kong’s Jardine Matheson group.
Aside from the share swap of new RRHI shares, the firm said “certain members of the Gokongwei family intend to sell some of their shares which will result in t*he Gokongwei Family effectively owning 51 percent of the expanded capital of RRHI.”
After the completion of the secondary sale tranche, Dairy Farm, through MCBV, will own 18.25 percent of RRHI.
“Leveraging the combined strengths of RRHI and RSCI will lead to benefits to customers in terms of even better service, quality and value,” said RRHI.
It added that, “this transaction is intended to be completed once the necessary approvals are obtained from the shareholders of RRHI, the Philippine Competition Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
MCBV had initially acquired a 50 percent stake in RSCI from the Tantoco family in 2012 before increasing this to 66 percent and, eventually, 100 percent.
The Dairy Farm Group operates supermarkets, hypermarkets, health and beauty stores, convenience stores, home furnishing stores, and restaurants around Asia.
The Group carries well-known brands like Wellcome, Giant, Cold Storage, Jason’s Marketplace and Maxim’s. It also operates 7-Eleven and Ikea stores in Asia
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https://business.mb.com.ph/2018/03/24/robinsons-acquires-rustans-grocery-business-for-p18-b/