PH conglomerates urged to tap UK institutions

British Ambassador Asif Ahmad is urging diversifying Filipino businessmen to turn to the United Kingdom for fresh opportunities, including new inventions and startup projects from the laboratories of British universities and research institutions.

Lately, Filipino conglomerates have been acquiring iconic companies in the United Kingdom. San Miguel Corp. recently was reported to be considering a £2-billion (P140.64-billion) bid for United Biscuits, owner of some of Britain’s biggest food brands. Last May, Emperador Inc. of Andrew Tan bagged a P32-billion deal to take over the spirits business of Scottish whisky maker Whyte & Mackay, beating formidable rivals like French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, American liquor-maker Brown-Forman (makers of Jack Daniel’s whisky), Italian beverage giant Gruppo Campari, and Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko, producer of Russian Standard vodka.

Ahmad expressed his support for Filipino companies like SMC and Emperador who were breaking into the UK market in a big way.

Emperador’s deal with Whyte & Mackay was the second largest overseas investment ever made by a Filipino entity after SMC’s big investments in Australia, the British envoy said on the sidelines of a partnership deal between the UK government and Bank of the Philippine Islands for the Chevening scholarship program Friday.

SMC previously invested in J. Boag & Son, Australia’s second largest brewer, as well as Australian dairy and juice manufacturer National Foods in the last decade but has since sold the businesses.

“If you look at what happened with Andrew Tan, he had strong competition and, you know, the directors of Whyte & Mackay said this was actually the investor they felt most comfortable working with,” Ahmad said.

On SMC’s bid for United Biscuits, Ahmad said: “I won’t rule out any other bidder looking at United Biscuits, but with the track record that SMC has, I think it can work.”

He added that he was regularly in touch with SMC president Ramon Ang for investment opportunities.

Ahmad said the UK had a lot of investment opportunities to offer Filipinos. In real estate, for instance, there is plenty of opportunity to invest from the smallest piece of real estate to buying entire townships, he said. He added that the UK could likewise offer opportunities in power generation.

“Also, the one area that Philippine businesses hasn’t looked at is investing in new inventions. This is really one of the real secrets coming out: New inventions coming out of universities and institutions and startup [companies],” he said. “If you get in with those, you’ll be sitting on a gold mine.”

Ahmad said he had talked to a few entrepreneurs about investing in such inventions and startup projects.

“If you want to go into established businesses, you’re buying all the goodwill and brand. If you are at the early stages, you pay next to nothing, and you can be in the next big business,” he explained.

Ahmad implied that it would not matter where the invention was made for as long as it would benefit not just the investor but a borderless global community in general.

“Let’s say they buy into something that enhances crop growth at two times as fast as anything we’ve ever known, and this is the thing that Filipino business acquires over there. There’s nothing that stops it from being a startup here. Another thing is, if you look at a way in which lot of retail (business) is done here, most of them are foreign-invented, foreign brands, foreign discoveries which are brought here and sold to the Philippines,” he said.