Dennis Uy buys 70% of Conti’s restaurant chain

Businessman Dennis Uy continued his corporate shopping binge with a deal to acquire the company that owns and operates restaurant chain Conti’s.

Uy’s main holding firm Udenna Corp. announced on Monday a share purchase agreement to acquire 70 percent of Conti’s Holdings Corp. (CHC), owner and operator of Conti’s, which specializes in cakes and pastries, pies, chilled takeout and other food items.

Conti’s, which was established in 1997, operates 20 stores in Metro Manila and serves more than 150 dishes, including bestsellers such as “Mango Bravo,” baked salmon and chicken pie.

The latest acquisition deepens Udenna’s stake in the hospitality and restaurant management and other food retail formats.

Last year, Udenna took over Enderun Colleges, one of the country’s premiere educational institutions focusing on hospitality management and culinary arts, as well as Philippine FamilyMart, the local franchisee of the popular Japanese convenience store brand.

“We are very bullish on the Philippine food industry, which has expanded with the growing demand for convenience. Specifically, the Philippines’ food service industry amounts to roughly $7.2 billion and over the past decades has had annual growth of 15 to 20 percent. We believe this transaction brings strong synergies with our existing portfolio, which includes hospitality and tourism,” Uy said in a statement on Monday.

“We are delighted to have been entrusted to grow Conti’s and further cement its reputation as one of the best restaurant chains in the Philippines, and we look forward to working with the existing management team, with the support of its original owners who are retaining a strategic stake, to bring Conti’s to the next level,” he added.

Uy is no stranger to the restaurant business. The first businesses in Davao that he built on his own when he was still a start-up entrepreneur was a restaurant called “Dencio’s” (not related to the Dencio’s Bar and Grill chain) in the province.

The transaction is expected to be closed within October 2018. After the transaction, the original owners of CHC will retain a combined 30-percent interest.

AlphaPrimus Advisors acted as exclusive financial adviser to Udenna for this transaction.

Incorporated in 2002, Udenna has interests in petroleum and oil through Phoenix Petroleum; shipping and logistics through Chelsea Logistics; real estate through Udenna Development; education through Enderun Colleges; and, infrastructure through Udenna Infrastructure.

Conti’s was founded in 1997 as a home-based pastry business in BF Homes, Parañaque by three sisters, Cecille Maranon, Carole Sumulong and Angie Martinez. Conti was their maiden surname.