Yao group prepares for backdoor listing of RC Cola business

A group led by businessman Alfredo Yao has infused its 99.99-percent stake in beverage firm ARC Refreshments Corp. into the shell company of Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial, taking the first step toward a widely anticipated backdoor listing of the local RC Cola beverage business.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Maybank said it had acquired 249.999 million shares of ARC Refreshments, which was newly incorporated to engage in the wholesale trading and manufacturing of beverage.

Yao earlier said the RC Cola business might make its market debut through the backdoor of the local stock exchange in early 2014. His group earlier agreed to buy the 89.75-percent stake in MAKE held by Malaysian banking giant Maybank. The group bought only the shell company through Mazy’s Capital Inc., while the investment house operations of Maybank ATR Kim Eng would continue to operate as a private company.

In a separate disclosure Wednesday, MAKE said two-thirds of its shareholders had agreed to change its corporate name into Macay Holdings and to change its primary purpose to reflect the business of a holding company.  Likewise part of the charter amendment, which will still have to be cleared with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is to remove its secondary purpose, which is tire manufacturing.

Yao’s group through another company, Asiawide Refreshments Corp., holds an exclusive license from RC Cola USA to manufacture and distribute RC Cola in the Philippines. Other business partners are entrepreneurs Tony Panajon, Gerry Garcia, Butch Aves and Ricky Sandoval. The group earlier indicated plans to bring this beverage business public to fund a regional expansion program.

This group also holds the license to manufacture and distribute RC Cola across Southeast Asia. It was earlier reported that Yao’s group was planning to put up new RC Cola plants in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Yao has been expecting RC Cola to go public ahead of flagship beverage business Zest-O.

Yao also has interests in aviation through a partnership with Air Asia and in banking, Philippine Business Bank which went public in February this year.