Mighty may temporarily make cigarettes for JTI

MALOLOS, Philippines — Mighty Corp., the cigarette company of the Wongchuking family, is looking at a number of options for its 1,200 factory workers, including providing separation packages or transitioning them into the new owner, Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI), industry sources said.

Depending on the final agreement, JTI may absorb the workers or Mighty may manufacture for JTI during a transition period, the sources told The Star.

Company owners and officials have declined to comment.

The 1,200 workers are assigned here at Mighty’s sprawling nine-hectare factory.

JTI is in the process of acquiring Mighty for P45 billion, as earlier announced by the Department of Finance.

The deal, which will cover assets, equipment and the rights to the Mighty brands, is currently pending with the Philippine Competition Commission.

If it proceeds, it will come at a time when Mighty marks its 72nd year as a cigarette company.

Its founder King, a migrant from China, established the company in 1945 at the age of 33 after working for a company that sold Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Prior to this or from the 1930s to the 1940s, King worked for Chinese tycoon Yao Shiong Shio, brother of the late Jose Yao Campos of top pharmaceutical manufacturer United Laboratories Inc.

Shio owned and operated what was then Columbia Tobacco, a cigarette company.

In the early ’80s, the Wong-chuking family decided to develop new Virginia-tobacco type cigarettes and in 1985, they changed La Campana’s name and brand to Mighty.

King died in 1987 but the business continued with his wife Nelia and sons Alex and Caesar at the helm.

Its first big break came in 2001 when the company was tapped to manufacture for Sterling Tobacco, then the third biggest player in the country, next to Lucio Tan’s Fortune Tobacco and Philip Morris, the first and second biggest players, respectively. (Both cigarette firms have already merged to form PMFTC.)

Now, Mighty has three operating plants here in its factory, a state of the art tobacco processing plant and two cigarette manufacturing facilities.

Mighty’s brands include Mighty, Campanilla, MAS, L.A Menthol and Marvel.