Conti’s Bakeshop & Restaurant and Wendy’s Philippines, now under a new investor group backed by Malaysian businessman Jaya Sudhir, are bringing in two of the country’s top tycoons as formidable new partners in a P3-billion equity deal.
We’re talking about Ramon S. Ang and Manuel V. Pangilinan, who agreed to buy 15 percent each of Eight8Ate Holdings Inc., the holding firm for the two retailing brands, for P1.5 billion each, our reliable sources said.
No less than RSA confirmed the partnership with MVP in this Eight8Ate buy-in deal to Biz Buzz.
READ: BIZ BUZZ: ABG defers re-IPO, upsizes issue
This is a deal that has been in the works for several months—as soon as Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy exited the business.
The partnership allows the tycoons to deepen their collaboration beyond infrastructure, following RSA’s investment in Metro Pacific Investments Corp. This is even as they have yet to finalize the proposed merger of their toll road businesses.
We earlier reported that Uy had sold Eight8Ate to entrepreneur Crystal Jacinto, Sudhir’s Filipina wife, in a P6-billion deal. We heard that RSA and MVP had agreed to buy existing, not new shares, allowing Jacinto and Sudhir to flip a portion of their stake at a premium.
The deal now values Eight8Ate, which has more than 70 stores under Conti’s and more than 80 under Wendy’s, at a whopping P10 billion! Whether the tycoons are getting their money’s worth, history will decide.
With RSA on board, other sources said we can expect these food brands to soon get prominent locations at all those airports that the San Miguel group is developing and rehabilitating.
Also, the two tycoons have existing interests in the hospitality space: RSA has Diamond Hotel group, while MVP has leisure estate Landco Pacific Corp. and has recently taken interest in Camp John Hay. The restaurant business complements this segment.
There were earlier plans to bring Eight8Ate to public hands, albeit through the backdoor. But maybe now’s not the time to rush into it, given the challenging environment. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
UBx appoints Dan Marogy, its new CEO
The financial technology arm of Union Bank of the Philippines has chosen a new leader, a little over two months since its previous CEO, John Januszczak, stepped down.
The Aboitiz-led bank on Monday told the exchange it had appointed Dan Marogy the CEO of UBx Philippines, effective Sept. 1.
The former CEO of food delivery platform Foodpanda Philippines succeeds Januszczak, who stepped down in June to focus on “personal priorities,” and Mario Domingo, who was appointed officer in charge during the transition period.
“We are excited to welcome Dan as the new CEO of UBx,” said Jose Emmanuel Hilado, UBx chair. “His proven leadership and deep expertise in scaling digital platforms will be instrumental in accelerating UBx’s growth and advancing our mission to build the future of financial services through innovations in embedded finance.”
As Foodpanda CEO, Marogy was known to have positioned the Philippine business as Asia-Pacific’s “innovation hub” by diversifying the company’s offerings to include fintech, logistics, grocery retail and quick commerce, Unionbank said.
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Exciting things ahead for UBx! —Meg J. Adonis INQ
