Robinsons acquires supermart chain

MANILA, Philippines - The multi-format retail chain of the Gokongwei family is acquiring a Mega Manila-based supermarket chain, marking its first buyout for this year.

In a regulatory filing, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. said wholly-owned subsidiary Robinsons Supermarket Corp. “agreed to acquire by way of share purchase a 100-percent interest in Jaynith’s Supermarket.”

Jaynith’s owns three supermarkets located in Pasig City, San Mateo in Rizal and Calamba in Laguna. It is owned and operated by JAS 8 Retailing Management Corp.

Jaynith’s started operations in April 2001, with the three stores posting P740 million in sales in 2012.

“Robinsons Supermarket ended 2013 with 91 stores nationwide. It is targeting to open approximately 20 to 22 stores in 2014,” the company said.

As of end-2013, Robinsons Retail had 1,064 stores or an addition of 152 stores from 2012.

“Approximately 24 percent of the new store openings in 2013 are located in the Visayas and Mindanao regions and 42 percent are in Luzon outside of Metro Manila,” the retail giant said.

In December, the retail chain ventured into the cosmetics business following the acquisition of the operator of Shiseido and Benefit stores in the Philippines.

It was the second acquisition of Robinsons Retail since listing in the local bourse in November. The company earlier bought into Tarlac-based EZ Mart and EZ Supermarket chain to expand its presence in Central and Northern Luzon.

Robinsons Retail is the Philippines’ second largest retail operating under nine formats: Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Department Store, Ministop, South Star Drug, Handyman Do it Best, True Value, Howards Storage World, Robinsons Appliances, Toys R Us, Saizen and a selection of international fashion apparel.