Campina launches tender offer for remaining Alaska shares

MANILA, Philippines - Dutch Dairy giant Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. has launched a tender offer for the remaining 31.48 percent of Alaska Milk Manufacturing Corp. held by minority shareholders.

The tender offer will run from April 25 to May 23 unless extended by Royal FrieslandCampina.

The shares will be acquired at P24 each share, the same price offered to the Uytengsu family who used to own majority of the milk manufacturing firm.

After more than 40 years, the Uytengsu family has relinquished control of the Philippines’ leading milk maker with the sale of 535.545 million shares, representing 61 percent of Alaska, for P12.857 billion.

The purchase will boost Friesland’s stake in Alaska from only 8.1 percent to 68.9 percent.

This is pursuant to the mandatory tender offer requirement with respect to acquisitions involving 35 percent of a listed Philippine entity. 

Friesland chief executive officer Cees ‘t Hart, said the acquisition would provide them a strong, high-growth platform in the Philippines and access to a market of around 100 million customers. The acquisition would also allow Alaska to further expand its position in Asia, which is a strategic growth area for the dairy multinational.

FrieslandCampina already has presence in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong , and Singapore. It also produces and sells dairy products in the Middle East and Africa.

Wilfred Steven Uytengsu will stay on as president and chief executive officer of Alaska.

Friesland sees its annual global revenues growing from 2.5 billion euro to nearly 2.7 billion euro with the deal.

With annual revenues of more than 200 million euro, Alaska has emerged as the leading player in the Philippine milk industry for more than 30 years. It has also recently expanded into higher value-added milk products, particularly in the ready-to-drink milk category.

Alaska employs about a thousand people and has a production facility in San Pedro, Laguna.