Puregold buys 6 supermarket stores in Negros Occidental

To widen its footprint in Western Visayas, Puregold Price Club Inc. said it bought six supermarket stores in Negros Occidental.

The acquisition covers five B&W, Black and White, and Goodshop stores in Roxas City, Negros Occidental, Candy Dacanay-Datuon, corporate secretary of Puregold, told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

"With this acquisition, Puregold will have 6 stores in Panay province and 11 stores in Negros province for a total of 17 stores in the Visayas region. This will give Puregold a total of 313 Puregold stores nationwide," Datuon noted in a regulatory filing.

Puregold said the acquisitions include the leasehold rights, trade names, inventory, furniture, fixtures, equipment, and properties of all five stores.

"Puregold expects the purchase to bolster its store presence in the Western Visayas Region," it said.

The acquisition cost is below 10 percent of the total book value of the company, and will be paid in cash.

The stores will be acquired from Jovita Apaitan, Leny Albert Apaitan, Helen Tan To, Janyn Apaitan-Bermudez, Gene Tan, and Ellen Apaitan.

At the close of trading on Wednesday, Puregold shares were up P1.50 or 2.99 percent at P51.70 per share from P50.20 on Tuesday.

Its market capitalization stood at P138.822 billion, with total outstanding common shares of 2,765,381,406.

As of December 31, 2016, Puregold was operating 147 hypermarkets, 100 supermarkets, 29 extras, a minimart, 12 S&R Warehouse Clubs, 23 S&R quick service restaurants, nine NE Bodega stores, and eight Budgetlane stores. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News