Korea’s Lotte Chilsung to buy 34% of Pepsi Philippines

Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of South Korea’s Lotte Group, has agreed to buy 34.4 percent of beverage firm Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI). The acquisition would make the Seoul-based company the biggest shareholder of Pepsi Philippines. Lotte Chilsung agreed to pay P4.447 billion to buy the 1.27 billion shares of Guoco Inc., Hong Way, and other minority shareholders, said PCPPI executive vice president Partha Chakrabarti. The purchase was priced at P3.50 per share. PCPPI president and CEO Micky Yong said that Lotte will bring into the Philippines its experience and resources and continue the growth momentum of Pepsi-Cola Products in the country’s highly competitive beverage industry. Lotte Chilsung CEO Hwang Chung said the acquisition is consistent with the firm’s strategy to aggressively penetrate the Southeast Asian market. “The acquisition of PCPPI will be a great milestone and contribute to achieving our vision of becoming [part of the] Asia Top 10 group [by] n 2018," Chung said. Chung also said that Lotte Chilsung is determined to refurbish the PCPPI manufacturing facilities and enhance the flagship products by introducing brands that the Filipino consumers desire, such as coffee and mineral water. For fiscal year 2009-2010, PCPPI posted a net income of P738 million, down from P799 million a year earlier. The beverage firm’s net sales in the same comparable period totaled P16.1 billion, up from P14.2 billion. PCPPI — whose world renown products are Pepsi, Seven Up, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Mug Root Beer, Gatorade, Tropicana, Propel, and Sting — has 11 bottling plants in the country. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV