Calata acquires Galicia meat business

MANILA, Philippines - Listed agribusiness firm Calata Corp. has finalized the acquisition of the meat business of the Galicia Group, a supplier of the country’s major supermarkets.

In a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Calata said it acquired 51 percent of the issued and outstanding capital of Brookfields Meat Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Brookfields will become a subsidiary of Calata and will be consolidated in the reporting of audited financial statements, the firm said.

Calata intends to integrate its business model by including the meat business into its existing revenue streams such as feeds distribution business, and hog breeding and growing towards the objective of achieving its farm-to-plate model.

“The company intends to aggressively pursue its meat business by rapidly expanding operations which shall include the establishment of major supply agreements with large-scale supermarkets, including supply agreements with the country’s largest retail chain Puregold Supermarkets which has more than 200 retail stores all over the country,” Calata said.

Calata revenues and profits to rise with its diversification into the meat business, which shall comprise 10 percent of the firm’s total book value.

“Operations from the meat business are expected to substantially contribute to the continued increase in corporate profitability as the company is geared towards becoming a major player in this billions of pesos worth of meat business industry for the coming years,” Calata said.

The company will fund the nationwide operations of Brookfields Meat and book  advances for every funding provided for the working capital requirements of the meat firm.

Calata earlier partnered with Chinese animal feed manufacturer New Hope Group to distribute the latter’s fastest-growing feed brand Golden Bean feeds.  NHG produces 26.6 million tons of animal feed annually.

The company’s vision is likewise to distribute pork meat fed under the Golden Bean brand all over the country.

Calata distributes agro-chemicals, feeds, fertilizers, veterinary medicines and other agricultural products.  Its business partners include San Miguel Corp. for B-Meg Feeds and veterinary products; Syngenta, Bayer, Jardine, Dupont, Sinochem, for agro-chemicals; East West Seeds, Monsanto, Planters Products for agricultural seeds; and Swire, Viking for fertilizers.