Puregold steps up expansion, acquires Eunilaine, Grocer E

MANILA, Philippines - Supermarket chain Puregold Price Club Inc. has beefed up anew its portfolio as it acquires Mega Manila-based chains Eunilaine and Grocer E.

The 15 newly-acquired supermarket branches in strategic areas will be rebranded into Puregold groceries, a company official said.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Puregold said it acquired 100 percent of the four operating Eunilaine foodmarts and 11 operating Grocer E supermarts from Company E Corp. The purchase cost was not disclosed.

“The 15 Eunilaine foodmarts and Grocer E supermarts are distributed as follows: seven stores in Metro Manila, six Rizal and two stores in Cavite,” Puregold said.

“The locations of (the acquired supermarkets) are good because for one, we are not present there yet and second, the locations are predominantly in residential areas near public markets,” Jimmy F. P. Perez, investor relations officer of Puregold, said in a phone interview.

The Lucio Co-led grocery chain ended last year with 156 stores in operations, composed of 131 Puregold Hypermarkets, Supermarkets and Extras; 19 Parco Supermarkets; and six S&R warehouse membership shopping clubs.

The latest acquisition, which will allow Puregold to increase its branch network, will be finalized today, he said.

“We can liken that to what happened in Parco. This year, all 19 Parco stores will be rebranded into Puregold in keeping with the benchmarking of the appearance of all the stores,” he said.

In May, Puregold acquired all 19 branches of Parco Supermarket. The grocery chain allotted P200 million for the refurbishment of the Parco chain.

Perez said the Eunilaine and Grocer E branches will likely be converted into Puregold Supermarkets with a net selling area of 1,000 square meters, or Puregold Extra with a net selling area of 400 sqm.

As of end-2012, Puregold had 77 stores in Metro Manila, 45 in Southern Luzon, 33 in Northern Luzon and one in the Visayas.

This year, Puregold is branching out in Mindanao with the opening of its flagship store in Cagayan de Oro and an S&R Membership Club in Davao as part of plans to hit its 200-outlet target ahead of the 2015 schedule.