Puregold buys operator of Eunilaine, Grocer E marts

MANILA, Philippines—Businessman Lucio Co-led Puregold Price Club has gobbled up another retailing peer that operates the Eunilaine foodmarts and Grocer E supermarkets, adding 15 new stores to its fast-growing network.

Puregold, the country’s second-biggest retailer and the most serious challenger to taipan Henry Sy’s, announced on Monday the acquisition of all the outstanding shares of stocks of Company E Corp. This paves the way for its takeover of the four operating Eunilaine foodmarts and 11 operating Grocer E supermarts.

The additional stores are distributed as follows: seven in Metro Manila, six in Rizal and two stores in Cavite.

Puregold ended 2012 with 156 stores in operations, consisting of 131 Puregold hypermarkets, supermarkets and extras; 19 Parco supermarkets; and six S & R warehouse membership shopping clubs. Last year Puregold accelerated its expansion with the acquisition of the Parco and S&R chains.

The company’s footprint now covers the following areas: 77 in Metro Manila, 45 in South Luzon, 33 in North Luzon and one in the Visayas.

Puregold is indicatively targeting to open 25 new Puregold stores and one new S & R warehouse membership shopping club this 2013, which will mark its entry in Mindanao with the opening of the S & R store in Davao City and the Puregold hypermarket in Cagayan de Oro City.  All the Parco supermarkets will be rebranded into Puregold in 2013.

Meanwhile, in the January 2013 issue of AsiaMoney on the matter of the best businesses in Asia, Puregold was awarded as the “Medium-Cap Corporate of the Year” for 2012 for the Philippines.

“The mid-cap award for the Philippines was a close call. ICTSI was a contender, as were Manila Water and Security Bank, all of which were deemed by analysts to have displayed impressive strategies this year in the mid-cap space. But while these companies have all performed well, their strategies on the whole have been a continuation of good management in previous years. Puregold Price Club’s strategy, on the other hand, has allowed it to gain market share over larger rivals for the past 12 months,” the magazine said.