By Arra B. Francia, Reporter

SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) is looking to consolidate its packaging business into newly formed San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. (SMFBI) in the future.

SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said SMFBI forms part of the first phase of the consolidation process of its investments. Aside from food and beverage, SMC also has investments in infrastructure, power, and fuel and oil sectors.

“Yung iba, in the future, may mga plano din,” Mr. Ang said, noting that its packaging business will also be merged with SMFBI in the following years.

SMC’s packaging unit San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp. has been ramping up expansion through the acquisition of bottling firms in Australia. Most recently, it bought Best Bottlers Pty. Ltd., a wine bottling and packaging facility in Victoria, Australia.

“Sana packaging isasama, kaya lang marami pang kailangang gawin to seek stockholder’s approval of so many small companies of packaging. Eventually we will and we can. The plan is to put it into (SMFBI) in the future,” he added.

Earlier this month, SMC said it is conducting a P336.5-billion share swap deal that would lead to the merger of its food and beverage businesses. SMC’s liquor and brewery businesses, through Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. and San Miguel Brewery, Inc., were transferred to San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc. Pure Foods later changed its name to SMFBI. 

Following this transaction, SMC plans to sell $3 billion worth of shares in SMFBI via a combination of private placement and follow-on offering. This comprises around 30% of shares of SMFBI’s shares, according to Mr. Ang.

“We received many offers to invest so we think we will sell the consolidated company. We’ll probably sell maybe 30% of the company, around $3 billion estimate,” he said.

The proceeds of the private placement will be used as equity for new businesses, according to Mr. Ang.

BREWERY BUSINESS
Mr. Ang said the company is scheduled to break ground for a brewery in Los Angeles, California in the next few months. The brewery, which will have a capacity of at least two million hectoliters per year, is valued at $150 million.

“Sa America, mabibili na ang lupa. Siguro in the next few months mag-ground break kami ng brewery dun na malaki (In America, we are buying the land. Maybe in the next few months, we can break ground for the big brewery),” he said.

As for its potential acquisition of a stake in Saigon Alcohol Beer and Beverages Corp., Mr. Ang said they are still assessing whether or not to go ahead with the plan, as the Vietnamese company is bidding out a stake of only 15% to 20%, as opposed to a controlling share.

“Minority shares, pero titignan pa rin natin. Baka naman mura, pero mahal ng valuation eh. (It’s for a minority share, but we will still look at it. Maybe it will be cheap, but the valuation is expensive),” he said. “I think they’re thinking of selling 15%, 20%.”

The diversified conglomerate generated a net income attributable to the parent of P20.89 billion in the first nine months of 2017, 19% lower than the P25.92 billion it booked in the same period in 2016. Revenues on the other hand increased by 19% to P596 billion during the period.

Shares in SMC added 40 centavos or 0.36% to close at P110 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday.

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