Jardine buys 50% of Rustan's Supercenters

MANILA, Philippines - The Tantoco family, who successfully turned its modest buy-and-sell venture into a high-end retail store chain, has sold a 36-percent stake in Rustans Supercenters Inc. (RSI) to leading pan-Asian retailer Dairy Farm of the Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson Group while the Spinnaker Group also sold its 14 percent to the Jardine Group.

RSI operates Rustan’s Supermarkets, which cater to the sophisticated, affluent segment of the consuming public; and Shopwise which targets the middle market.

The purchase will serve as a springboard for Dairy Farm’s strategic plan for long-term growth and further expansion in Asia. It would also mark the group’s entry in the Philippine market.

 Dairy Farm offers high quality fresh foods and consumer and durable goods in its supermarkets, hypermarkets, health and beauty stores, and convenience stores under well-known brands such as Giant, Shop ’N Save, Foodworld, Mannings, Wellcome, Hero, Guardian, and Health Glow.

For its home furnishings, Dairy Farms operates under the IKEA brand in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Tantoco family’s partnership with Dairy Farm is expected to accelerate the expansion of Rustan’s Supercenters and heat up competition in the multi-billion peso industry, which is currently dominated by retailing giant SM Group.

Puregold Price Club Inc. ranked second in the supermarket/hypermart industry.

RSI earlier announced plans to step up its presence outside Metro Manila, by opening branches in Cebu and Cagayan De Oro this year. The group intends to be the most preferred one-stop shop destination for fulfilling the basic needs of the Filipino family.

The move is aimed at capitalizing on the rising middle-class and increasing value consciousness across various income levels.

RSI currently has 10 hypermarkets across the country.

Aside from the supermarkets and the department stores, the Tantocos also owns the Marks & Spencer and Starbucks franhises as well as other companies including Store Specialists Inc. which brought luxury brands Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tod’s, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Bottega Venetta and Marc jacobs to the Philippines.

Dairy Farm, on the other hand, has presence in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, India, Macau, and mainland China.

It also has a 50% interest in Maxim’s, Hong Kong’s leading restaurant chain.

Dairy Farm is a member of the highly diversified Jardine Matheson Group, which owns companies that are leaders in the fields of engineering and construction, transport services, insurance broking, property investment and development, retailing, restaurants, luxury hotels, motor vehicles and related activities, financial services, heavy equipment, mining and agribusiness.