San Miguel, the largest food and drinks group in south-east Asia, has sold a 35% stake in its packaging unit to Japan“s Nihon Yamamura Glass for USD 130 million.
San Miguel, which is diversifying in…
San Miguel, the largest food and drinks group in south-east Asia, has sold a 35% stake in its packaging unit to Japan“s Nihon Yamamura Glass for USD 130 million. San Miguel, which is diversifying into heavy industry in the Philippines, said on 31 January 2008 that the total sale price was made up of PHP 4.339 billion (USD 107 million) for a share in the domestic packaging business and USD 23.453 million for a share in the international operations. Nihon Yamamura Glass is a long-standing joint venture partner of San Miguel in the Philippines, where they operate the country“s largest glass plant as well as a glass plant in Vietnam. “This is a significant investment that creates a strong foundation for our joint ambition to become a leading packaging business in Asia, providing us access to countries in the region where San Miguel already has presence”, Koji Yamamura, president of the Japanese group, said in a statement. San Miguel has been disposing of businesses and is planning to list its flagship domestic beer operation in 2008 to raise funds for a drive into power, mining, infrastructure and real estate at home. In 2007, it sold its erstwhile flagship overseas business, Australian dairy and juice manufacturer National Foods, to Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings for USD 2.6 billion.