Macay to acquire unit holding RC Cola license

Macay Holdings Inc. is set to acquire 100 percent of an affiliate company holding the franchise of soft drink brand RC Cola in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia.

By acquiring ARC Holdings, Macay may fully consolidate all the licensing, trademark and related rights on the RC Cola brand, according to a disclosure yesterday to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“We decided to fold in ARC Holdings to increase the value of Macay,” said businessman Alfredo Yao, chair of Macay Holdings.

In a telephone interview, Yao said ARC Holdings and Macay had similar shareholders and it would be a simple transaction to consolidate the RC Cola franchise under one entity.

Macay’s board has approved the acquisition of 100 percent of ARC Holdings even though  the terms and conditions still has to be negotiated and finalized, the disclosure said. The board further authorized Macay president Antonio Panajon to negotiate, execute and sign the pertinent documents to seal the deal.

Formerly a shell company for Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. (MAKE), Macay incorporated ARC Refreshments Corp. in 2013 to engage in the business of trading goods, such as beverages, on wholesale basis. ARC in turn substantially acquired all operating units of Asiawide Refreshment Corp. and Mega Asia Bottling Corp.

Asiawide holds the exclusive license from RC Cola USA to manufacture and distribute RC Cola in the Philippines while Mega Asia 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.

ARC Holdings is a separate entity under the same group. It holds the trademark licenses of Royal Crown Cola which, in turn, owns the rights to the trademark of RC Cola in the Philippines.

At present, the group operates nine bottling plants in the country. As the group is the biggest bottler of RC Cola in the region, Royal Crown Cola of Georgia USA has expressed interest to give the group “anchor bottler” status in Southeast Asia.