URC sells P4.38-B treasury shares

MANILA, Philippines - Universal Robina Corp., the snack foods unit of the Gokongwei family, sold P4.30 billion worth of treasury sales yesterday by way of a special block sale.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, URC said the sale of about 22.6 million treasury shares is related to its acquisition of Consolidated Snacks Pty Ltd. which owns Snack Brands Australia.

URC completed the acquisition of the Australian company yesterday.

The Gokongwei-owned firm bought Consolidated Snacks for A$600 million or roughly US $450 million.

With this acquisition, URC hopes to create a wider footprint in Oceania and the highly competitive Australian food and retailing market.

The move is also seen as “completely synergistic with URC and Griffin’s, New Zealand’s number one snack foods company which was also acquired by URC in November 2014.

Under the agreement, URC through its wholly owned offshore subsidiary URC International Co. Ltd., will acquire 100 percent of the shares in CSPL.

Consolidated Snacks Pty Ltd. trades under the company name Snackbrands Australia (SBA) and is one of the country’s leading snack foods company and the second largest player in salty snacks with a total market share of close to 30 percent.

With its wide portfolio of chips including iconic brands Kettles, Thins, CC’s and Cheezels, the company is the preferred private label supplier and partner of major Australian retailers.

According to URC, with continuous efforts of innovation, customer focus and operational efficiency, SBA has grown its top line at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.4 percent in the past four years while its EBITDA has grown 32.6 percent over the same time frame.

The addition of SBA into the URC organization would further enhance the innovation capability of the company and reinforce its thrust on premiumization, given emerging global consumer trends on indulgence, health, wellness and nutrition, URC said.

In the last three years, the company has been looking for strategic options on acquisitions or partnerships given the emerging competitive challenges being brought upon by the lifting of trade barriers and the attractiveness of the Asia-Pacific region.