Alfredo Yao folds beverage businesses under Maybank ATR

Asiawide Refreshments Corp. and Mega Asia Bottling Corp., the beverage businesses of Alfredo Yao, will be consolidated under Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp., the listed company recently bought by Yao and his group.

 

To set the consolidation in motion, Maybank ATR's newly established subsidiary ARC Refreshments Corp. will buy the operating assets of Asiawide Refreshments that include machinery and equipment, bottles, inventories, receivables and other assets Asiawide Refreshments acquired in the course of its operations, Maybank ATR said in a dislosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

 

Part of Asiawide Refreshments' carbonated drinks portfolio are Zesto Fruit Soda and Arcy’s Rootbeer. It is also the licensed Philippine bottler of RC Cola USA.

 

ARC Refreshments will also buy the machinery and equipment of bottler Mega Asia Bottling Corp., the Yao-led company which makes carbonated soft drinks for the RC Cola brand.

 

Trading of Maybank ATR shares on the PSE was suspended on Thursday after its disclosure was released. Shares Maybank ATR last traded on Dec. 27, 2013, closing at P18.12 apiece.

 

“After a careful review of the disclosure submitted by the company, the exchange deemed the transaction to be covered by rules on backdoor listing,” the exchange noted.

 

“Given the foregoing, the exchange will implement a trading suspension on MAKE starting Jan 2, 2014, pending compliance with the disclosure requirements set forth under the aforementioned rule,” it added.

 

One of the options attached to the Maybank ATR acquisition was the backdoor listing of Yao's beverage businesses.

 

With an authorized capital stock of P1 billion, ARC Refreshments was incorporated by MayBank ATR to engage in the wholesale trading of beverages. Maybank ATR and Yao's group subscribed to around 25 percent of ARC Refreshment’s authorized capital.

 

Yao and his associates bought 958.92 million or 89.75 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Maybank ATR at P3.33 per share last October, and staged a tender offer to buy the shares held by minority shareholders. – VS, GMA News