Macay Holdings takes over 2 bottling plants

Macay Holdings Inc., a beverage investment holding firm of businessman Alfredo Yao, is beefing up its bottling operations by taking over two non-core bottling plants of Zest-O Corp. which the group also owns.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday, Macay said the board of its subsidiary ARC Refreshments Corp. had voted to acquire the Zest-O bottling plants in Kaybiga, Novaliches and Canlubang, Laguna.

The acquisition will include all the machinery and equipment, inventories and other assets contained in the bottling plants.

The Zest-O plants will be used in the operation of ARC Refreshments for the production and distribution of its beverage products, the disclosure said.

Macay submitted an amended disclosure to clarify the previous one “so as not to create confusion that the acquisition pertains in any way to Zest-O’s operations.”

In a phone interview, Yao explained that the two plants ceded by Zest-O to Macay were both bottling plants used in toll manufacturing operations and were not part of the core production facilities used by Zest-O.

A long time ago, the plants were used to bottle products for other brands like Pepsi, Yao said.

The plants were sold to ARC because the latter needed these facilities more, Yao said.

“We have other plants (for Zest-O),” he added, noting that the plants sold to ARC were not strategic to Zest-O’s own products.

According to its website, Zest-O operates five manufacturing plants across the country, producing different product lines. The locations of the manufacturing plants are chosen based on how effective the products are distributed in a given service area.

Macay Holdings was formerly the shell company of Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. (MAKE).

In late 2013, MAKE incorporated ARC Refreshments Corp. to engage in the business of trading goods, such as beverages, on a wholesale basis.

Doris C. Dumlao