Alfredo Yao. PHOTO BY LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines – A group led by businessman Alfredo Yao has paved the way for the much-anticipated infusion of Philippine RC Cola operations into backdoor listing vehicle Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. (MAKE).
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, MAKE said the board of its subsidiary ARC Refreshment Corp. had approved the acquisition of substantially all the operating units of Asiawide Refreshment Corp. and Mega Asia Bottling Corp.
Asiawide 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.
Mega Asia, on the other hand, operates the RC Cola bottling and manufacturing operations in the Philippines. It is based in Caloocan but it also has operations in other areas like Pampanga and Davao.
The operating assets of Mega Asia that ARC had agreed to acquire consisted of machinery and equipment as well as other assets deemed necessary for bottling operations.
Meanwhile, ARC also agreed to acquire the operating assets of Asiawide, including but not limited to machinery and equipment, bottles, inventories, receivables and other assets. ARC also agreed to assume some liabilities of Asiawide which were incurred in the normal course of business, including accounts payable and loans payable.
Yao’s group earlier infused a 99.99-percent stake in ARC into MAKE, whose shareholders earlier agreed to change its corporate name into Macay Holdings.
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. The business also has interests in aviation through a partnership with Air Asia and in banking, Philippine Business Bank which went public in February of last year.
Trading on MAKE was suspended by the PSE on Thursday pending submission of a comprehensive disclosure on the transaction. The PSE said this was covered by the rules on backdoor listing.