Aboitiz food unit Pilmico expands in AsPac

Pilmico International Pte. Ltd., the food unit of conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., is beefing up its presence in the Asia-Pacific region after it acquired a majority stake in one of the region’s largest agribusiness corporations.

The company signed an agreement to acquire a 75 percent stake in British Virgin Islands-based Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd. for $334 million as part of expansion plans for its animal feeds business in the region.

Pilmico International was chosen as the preferred bidder following a competitive auction.

“ASEAN’s market size of over 500 million will bring many opportunities to expand our customer base. This acquisition serves as a platform towards achieving Pilmico’s strategy to grow our core feed milling business beyond ASEAN and now across Asia,” said AEV chief operating officer and Pilmico president Sabin Aboitiz.

The acquisition – Pilmico’s largest investment in the Asia-Pacific region to date – is expected to add three million metric tons in volume of feeds which will quadruple the company’s overall feeds production capacity.

Based in Singapore, Gold Coin is a major producer of animal feeds and operates 20 livestock and aqua feed mills across 11 countries in Asia.

Established in 1953, Gold Coin is a pioneer in animal nutrition and offers a wide range of products for both the livestock and the aqua industries, including young animals and hatchery feed, premixes, concentrates and compound feed.

Last year, Gold Coin generated net revenues of $751million.

Pilmico International’s first ASEAN venture was in Vietnam in 2014 when it bought a 70 percent stake in Vinh Hoan Feeds, one of the country’s major aquafeed manufacturers.

Last year, it bought an additional 15 percent stake in VHF and a 70-percent stake in Europe Nutrition Joint Stock Company, an animal feeds manufacturer.