State-pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) increased its stake in liquor firm Emperador Inc. to 5.23 percent following a series of share acquisitions, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The pension fund purchased 131.3 million shares over the past 60 days, bringing its total holdings to 823,196,500 shares. This makes GSIS a substantial shareholder in the company, which is the world’s leading brandy seller by volume.
Emperador, majority-owned by Alliance Global Group led by chairman Andrew Tan, also counts Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC as a strategic investor. GIC holds a 12-percent interest through its private equity arm Arran Investment.
The increased investment comes despite a slight dip in Emperador’s financial performance. The company reported a nine-month net income of P4.67 billion, down 2.3 percent from P4.78 billion in the previous year.
Nine-month revenues also slipped 4.6 percent to P41.2 billion from P43.2 billion due to soft overseas sales.
Despite the recent earnings slowdown, the company continues to expand its international footprint with a focus on its whisky and brandy portfolio.
Its projects include doubling the production capacity of the Dalmore distillery in Scotland and expanding the whisky maturation complex at the Invergordon distillery.
The maturation complex expansion will grow the site from 45.4 hectares to 92 hectares, allowing the grain distillery to house an additional 1.5 million casks.
The company aims to meet rising global demand for single malt and blended whiskies by scaling up premium offerings.
Emperador’s share price closed at P15.88 on Friday.
