We cannot get over the price tag for this transaction. (Give us three days.)
“The Gokongwei-owned Universal Robina Corp. (URC) is taking over the leading biscuit and snack food company in New Zealand for NZ$700 million (roughly PHP26.4 billion), marking its largest acquisition to date,” reports Neil Jerome C. Morales in The Philippine Star.
NZFHL is the holding company of Griffin’s Foods Ltd., which is said to be “New Zealand’s leading biscuit and snack food company.” It has approximate net sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of NZ$280 million and NZ$78 million, respectively.
The report said that “the acquisition jumpstarts URC’s goal of becoming a major regional player.”
In a statement, URC said that “the transaction is subject to approval by New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office.”
The report pointed out that “the acquisition by URC—which implemented a trading suspension on Monday, July 21, prior to a detailed disclosure of the transaction—comes on the heels of Philippine companies buying into foreign firms.”
In May, Andrew Tan’s Emperador Inc. took over Whyte & Mackay— the Scotland-based spirits business of the world’s biggest premium drinks group Diageo Plc.—for US$724.24 million. In late 2013, infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Hong Kong-based parent firm First Pacific Co. Ltd. acquired a 24.9% stake in Thai tollroad operator Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd for PHP5.8 billion.
