PAN Food acquires Bibica in latest merger

PAN Food acquires Bibica in latest merger

Workers pack Bibica’s moon cakes at their factory in Biên Hoà City, Đồng Nai Province. — Photo baocongthuong.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The PAN Food empire marches on: the company just announced its successful acquisition of Bibica Corporation with  五0.0 七 per cent of total share ownership.

PAN Food first put up public bids for more than  一. 一 二 million Bibica shares, stock code BBC on the HCM Stock Exchange, from July  六 to August  二 一,  二0 一 七, at VNĐ 一 一 二, 八00 (US$ 五.0 二) per share.

Now that PAN Food completed the purchase of nearly one million Bibica outstanding shares, or  八 七 per cent of its initial request. It owns up to  七. 八 million shares at Bibica and can legally act as Bibica’s parent company.

After the acquisition, PAN Food, itself a subsidiary of the PAN Group, reported having increased the level of ownership from  四 三. 七 三 per cent to more than half of Bibica’s shares, outranking Bibica’s second largest shareholder Lotte Confectionery Co Ltd at  四 四.0 三 per cent ownership.

Since  二0 一 四, PAN Food has successfully finished a number of mergers and acquisitions with big names in the Vietnamese food industry, such as Long An Food Processing Export JSC and Aquatex Bentre.

At the moment, Bibica’s shares are traded at around VNĐ 一 一0,000 ($ 四. 八 九) per share, with more than  一 五. 四 million shares on the market.

Meanwhile, PAN Group (sticker PAN) is being traded on the HCM Stock Exchange at VNĐ 三 八,000 ($ 一. 六 九) per share, with more than  一 一 七 million outstanding shares.

According to Bibica’s  二0 一 六 financial report, the company had a total net income of VNĐ 八 一 billion ($ 三. 六 million), with  一 二 per cent coming from dividends in cash. It plans to increase  二0 一 七’s post-tax income to VNĐ 一0 四. 三 billion ($ 四. 六 million) and use  一 八 per cent of said income for shareholders’ dividends.

Bibica’s food products are sold at up to  一 一 五,000 retail outlets and  五00 supermarkets and convenience stores across the country. — VNS