Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. led by the Gokongwei family said Monday it plans to rebrand Ministop in the Philippines once it completes the acquisition of the stake of its Japanese partner in the convenience store chain.
Robinsons Retail said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it is buying out its Japanese partner to take full control of Ministop in the Philippines. Ministop Co., the Japanese company, earlier announced plans to pull out from several Asian markets, including the Philippines.
Robinsons Retail said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it is acquiring Ministop Japan’s 40-percent stake in Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc., the exclusive franchisee of Ministop in the Philippines.
The deal, which is expected to be completed in February, will increase RRHI’s stake in RCSI to 100 percent from 60 percent. RRHI did not disclose the value to the transaction.
“I would like to thank Ministop Japan for our partnership over the years. Under the Ministop banner, we were able to bring to the public well-loved products and essential services,” said RRHI president and chief executive Robina Gokongwei-Pe.
RRHI said Ministop Japan would continue to operate the stores using the Ministop brand within the transition period as agreed upon by both parties.
RRHI said, however, it was planning to rebrand and repurpose Ministop, as it takes into consideration the strong ready-to-eat offerings such as Uncle John’s Fried Chicken and Kariman.
“Our stores will continue to carry our bestsellers while we continue to diversify our ready-to-eat menu and offer new products to the market. Customers can also rely on our convenient e-services and bills payment facilities,” said Suresh Ramalinggam, general manager of Ministop Philippines.
RRHI said that as of end September 2021, there were 458 Ministop stores across the country, of which 110 were franchised and 348 were company-owned.
RRHI’s convenience store business registered net revenues of P3.57 billion in the first nine months of 2021, up 4.8 percent from P3.41 billion recorded in the same period in 2020.
The convenience store business accounted for 4.7 percent of total RRHI revenues.
RRHI, the listed retail holding company of the Gokongwei family, also operates department stores, supermarkets, drugstores and other specialty stores.
The shares price of RRHI inched up by 0.52 percent Monday to close at P57.96.
Japanese convenience store chain Ministop was earlier reported to be selling its South Korean subsidiary to Lotte for around 30.4 billion yen ($267 million) and its Philippine operations. The move is in line with plans focus its resources in the domestic market.
Ministop is the fourth largest convenience store chain in Japan.
