Gokongweis eye stake in Rustan Supercenters

GOKONGWEI-owned Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc, on Friday announced plans to acquire a stake in the operator of the Rustan’s Supermarket and Shopwise brands.

In a disclosure released following the close of trading, listed Robinson’s Retail said it was looking to acquire Mulgrave Corp. B.V.’s 100-percent stake in Rustan Supercenters, Inc. via a share swap deal worth approximately P18 billion.

Mulgrave is a unit of the Dairy Farm International Holdings, Ltd. group of companies and Robinsons Retail said the deal, once consummated, would lead to a partnership “to build a leading food retail business”.

“Certain members” of the Gokongwei family will also sell some of their shares, Robinsons Retail said, which would lead to the Gokongweis owning 51 percent of the company’s expanded capital.

Through Mulgrave, Dairy Farm will end up owning 18.25 percent of Robinsons Retail.

Closing of the deal was premised on shareholder approval of the issuance of Robinsons Retail primary shares, approval by the Philippine Competition Commission, and valuation confirmation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A share purchase agreement was signed on Friday and the deal is expected to be closed in approximately four to six months.

Rustan Supercenters is the operator of Marketplace by Rustan’s, Rustan’s Supermarket, Shopwise Hypermarket, Shopwise Express and Wellcome.

Earlier on Friday, Robinsons Retail reported a 13.7-percent increase in 2017 net income.

“The improvement was driven by stronger sales, resilient same store sales growth despite coming from a high base in 2016 boosted by election spending and improvement in gross margins,” the company told the stock exchange.