CNPF buys Hunt’s brand in PH

Screengrab from www.centurypacific.com.ph

The country’s leading canned food producer Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) has acquired the Philippine license for pork & beans brand “Hunt’s” from the Gokongwei group.

Po family-led CNPF has struck a deal to purchase the rights to manufacture, sell, and distribute Hunt’s branded products in the Philippines from Hunt-Universal Robina Corp., a 50-50 joint venture between locally listed Universal Robina Corp. and ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s leading packaged food companies.

ConAgra will continue to own the Hunt’s trademark globally.

The acquisition by CNPF will also include the transfer of manufacturing assets and inventory related to HURC’s Hunt’s product lineup. Currently, this lineup includes pork & beans, tomato-based spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and marinade sauce.

“We are excited about expanding our portfolio with brands and products that resonate with Filipino consumers. Hunt’s is a welcome addition with its local dominance in pork & beans, its emerging presence in condiments, and its potential to be another source of growth for us,” CNPF president and chief executive officer Christopher Po said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

For its part, URC decided to sell the business after conducting a strategic review of its portfolio, thereafter shifting focus to core categories, namely: snackfoods and beverages, which are geared towards convenience and on-the-go occasions, URC president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei.

“Hunt’s was the first joint venture brand of URC in partnership with ConAgra and together we have
built a strong grocery category in pork & beans and sauces,” Gokongwei said.

Given the shift in focus, Gokongwei said URC and ConAgra decided to spin off Hunt’s, adding that CNPF’s “strength in the grocery category can further add value and take the brand to new
levels of growth in the years to come.

CNPF, which has about four decades of track record in brand-building, has a roster of household names which include Century Tuna, Argentina Corned Beef, 555, Angel, and Birch Tree, maintaining market leadership in both the canned tuna and canned meat segments.

Hunt’s, one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of tomato-based products, has a long heritage, spanning more than 100 years globally. It entered the Philippines in 1984, initially with a one-product strategy, launching the iconic Hunt’s Pork & Beans.

Today, Hunt’s expanded product portfolio includes other tomato-based culinary sauces, and dominates the ready-to-eat canned beans category with an 86% market share locally.

“This will be an accretive acquisition for us and we see a number of potential synergies. These include synergies in the supply chain, distribution, manufacturing, and marketing,” said Po.

“We also look forward to leveraging on the track record and category leadership that URC has built for Hunt’s here in the Philippines. We are excited to work with ConAgra to further grow the brand locally,” Po added.

In late 2016, CNPF also acquired the Kamayan trademark for North America, one of the top names for shrimp paste, which represented the Company’s initial foray into branded categories outside its core segments of marine, meat, and milk.

Last year, CNPF chalked up a net profit of P2.66 billion, marking an increase of 37 percent year-on-year on the back of double-digit branded revenue growth, improved profitability, and the full-year consolidation of its coconut business.

URC, a regional multinational powerhouse, is the largest listed food company in the Philippines.