San Miguel Yamamura acquires Australian wine bottling, packaging firm
DIVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is further expanding its presence in the Australasian region with its acquisition of wine bottling and packaging firm Best Bottlers Pty. Ltd. (Best Bottlers).
The listed firm disclosed on Tuesday that its international packaging business San Miguel Yamamura Packaging International Ltd. acquired Best Bottlers through its Australian subsidiary, San Miguel Yamamura Australasia Pty. Ltd.
“As domestic and export demands grow, we continue to look for synergies and more opportunities for our packaging business. In line with this, we are building a new glass plant in Cavite to be operational by the end of 2018. Other than glass, we also see the potential to grow other packaging formats like cans, plastics, and tolling businesses,” SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said in a statement.
Best Bottlers provides wine bottling, packaging and warehousing solutions from its home base in Victoria, Australia. It specializes in various formats of contract filling, such as still and sparkling wines, cider, ready-to-drink and non-alcoholic beverages.
The transaction marks SMC’s sixth acquisition of firms connected to the wine industry in the region. Last July, the company acquired for P448-million Barossa Bottling Services Pty. Ltd., a wine bottling facility which serves artisan wineries in South Australia.
Prior to Barossa, SMC also purchased Portavin Holdings Pty. Ltd., a firm engaged in the bottling of wine, as well as trading and distribution of packaging products in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia.
SMC’s packaging unit also acquired Endeavor Glass of New Zealand in 2016, the cork and wine closures business of Vinocor in 2015, and packaging provider Cospak, said to be one of the largest in the region.
SMC recorded a 21% increase in its recurring profit to P27.6 billion in the first semester of 2017, following a 20% climb in revenues to P393.4 billion.
Shares in SMC rose P8 or 7.49% to P114.80 each on Tuesday.