Singapore-based investment holding firm BreadTalk Group Ltd (BTG) has acquired a 15% stake of SET-listed NPPG Thailand Plc at 1.50 baht per share.
According to the company's statement, its subsidiary BTG Vault Pte Ltd purchased 285 million ordinary shares of NPPG, equivalent to 15% of the total number of sold shares of NPPG, from four shareholders.
BTG will be sending its group chief executive Henry Chu and group chief financial officer Chan Ying Jian as board members to co-manage NPPG and its existing board of directors, aiming to realise its full potential through cross-synergies.
NPPG has both packaging and food businesses, holding key brands such as A&W, Kitchen Plus and Dean & DeLuca. NPPG also has a mass market business producing frozen and chilled ready-to-eat meals, with distribution among key convenience stores and hypermarkets.
In 2018 NPPG's revenue was 1.18 billion baht, with 55% contributed from packaging, 28% from frozen food and ready-to-eat meals and 17% from quick-service restaurant (QSR) business.
"BreadTalk Group is a highly respected company and leader in Asia in the food and restaurant business. Its growth trajectory over the past few years was nothing short of extraordinary. It was able to produce healthy profits in a highly competitive sector, and we believe NPPG has a lot to learn from as we attempt synergy with BTG," said NPPG's executive committee chairman Chirdsak Kukiattinum. "As we are expanding our Dean & DeLuca footprint, BreadTalk's expertise and experience in the retail food and beverage space will enable us to grow faster and stronger."
Mr Chirdsak said NPPG is completing its turn-around initiatives and is looking forward to a healthy financial performance and rapid strategic growth.
The focus is on ensuring return on investments on it QSR businesses, moving towards efficient and effective investments that will produce quick payback.
NPPG is also evaluating rebuilding its frozen/chilled food factory to support rapid demand from customers, where continued accelerated growth is expected.
Mr Chu of BTG said Thailand is one of the group's key strategic markets, and it believes NPPG has a lot of hidden assets whose intrinsic value could be realised with the right management and expertise.
"Our acquisition of this strategic stake in NPPG will provide us with a valuable beachhead in Thailand and potential Mekong-area markets. NPPG's access to a wide swath of convenience stores in Thailand will offer the group a ready distribution network for our products in the future. Its strength in the food packaging and frozen food businesses will be complementary to our position."
