Asahi to Buy Malaysia Drinks Manufacturer Permanis for $274 mln

Under Asahi’s long-term vision, Asahi aims to increase its sales to 2-2.5 trillion Yen, increase its share of overseas sales to 20-30% and join the ranks of the top global food companies in scale, while becoming a trusted company with global quality by 2015.

Jul 25 2011 --- Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. has reached an agreement with CI Holdings. Bhd. to purchase all issuedshares of CI’s wholly owned subsidiary Permanis Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia’s second largest soft drink maker by sales volume in a deal worth roughly 21.6 billion yen ($274 million).

Under Asahi’s long-term vision, Asahi aims to increase its sales to 2-2.5 trillion Yen, increase its share of overseas sales to 20-30% and join the ranks of the top global food companies in scale, while becoming a trusted company with global quality by 2015.

To achieve this goal, Asahi will drive growth in its existing businesses as well as expand its overseas investment activities to achieve further synergies.

Asahi has existing soft drink operations in Australia through Schweppes Australia, acquired in 2009. It also plans to acquire Australian mineral water and juice maker P&N Beverages Australia Pty Ltd as well as New Zealand soft drink maker Charlie’s Group Limited through a takeover offer, as announced in press releases on 4 July. These steps have strengthened its soft drink business in the Oceania region.

With the acquisition of Malaysian base soft drink maker Permanis, Asahi hopes to establish a base in the Malaysian soft drink market and use this as a platform for mid to long term expansion into Southeast Asia. In addition, to generate synergies within its Oceania operations, together with its strong operations in China, Asahi intends to establish and strengthen a platform for growth in the Asia Oceania region.

Permanis is Malaysia’s second largest soft drink maker and has the exclusive right to bottle, market and sell PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi, 7-Up, Gatorade and Tropicana, as the only franchisee in Malaysia. It has two factories in Malaysia and a broad distribution network extending across the country.