Aboitiz Equity Ventures took full ownership of Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd., one of Asia’s largest privately-owned agribusiness corporations, with the acquisition of an additional 25-percent stake in the Singaporean company for $120 million.
AEV said in a disclosure to the stock exchange unit Pilmico International Pte. Ltd. purchased the remaining 25-percent stake in Gold Coin to expand the group’s animal feed business within the Asia Pacific region.
AEV acquired the first 75-percent stake in Gold Coin for $334 million in July 2018. Established in 1953, the Singapore-based Gold Coin is a major producer of animal feeds and operates 20 production facilities, employing over 3,000 people across 11 countries.
It 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.
It currently has operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam
AEV said the acquisition would add three million metric tons of volume to the group’s capacity, thereby quadrupling its overall feeds production capacity.
The Gold Coin acquisition is Pilmico International’s largest investment in the Asia-Pacific region to date.
Pilmico first ventured outside the Philippines in 2014 when it acquired 70 percent of Vinh Hoan Feeds, one of Vietnam’s major aquafeed manufacturers.
It bought an additional 15-percent stake in VHF in 2017, boosting its stake to 85 percent. It also bought 70 percent in Europe Nutrition Joint Stock Company (Eurofeed), an animal feeds manufacturer.
AEV earmarked P81 billion in capital expenditures for 2019, up from P49 billion it spent in 2018. The conglomerate said at least 63 percent of P81 billion, or P51 billion, would be set aside for the expansion of power-related businesses.
The remaining 37 percent or P30 billion will be allotted for the group’s non-power generating businesses, including real estate, cement, banking, bulk water project, food and infrastructure.
AEV is issuing up to P5 billion in fixed-rate bonds in the first half of the year.