Japan’s Nissin raising stake in jv with URC

MANILA, Philippines - Japan’s Nissin Foods Holdings Co. Ltd. is significantly hiking its stake in its joint venture with snacks and beverage giant Universal Robina Corp. (URC) as it remains bullish on the branded convenience food industry in the Philippines.

Nissin’s Japan unit has increased its stake by 14 percent to 49 percent in Nissin-URC, a joint venture between Nissin Foods (Asia) Pte. Ltd. and URC.

The firm currently manufactures, sells and distributes various noodle products in the Philippines under the Nissin brand.

URC’s share in the joint venture, meanwhile, has been reduced from 65 percent to 51 percent.

Nissin-URC has also bought URC’s Tarlac noodle plant, equipment and inventories and now has the license to produce Payless products.

“We have been with Nissin-URC since 1995 and know that Nissin and Payless are great products that have a lot of potential especially in a growing market such as the Philippines,” said Eigo Ogiwara, Nissin Foods chief representative for Asia.

With Nissin raising its stake, URC said Nissin-URC will have a more advance noodle technology as well as greater capacity to innovate and create best quality noodle products.

URC also said there will be also be a new set-up in the partnership in which Nissin will now produce Payless instant noodles using its new technology and equipment while URC will handle marketing, sales and distribution.

 “Both Nissin-URC and URC agreed to integrate their noodles business to optimize the resources, achieve efficiency and synergy gains, and establish an effective product portfolio,” URC said.

Nilo Mapa, URC’s managing director, said the resulting synergy will make Payless and

Nissin bigger market players, while Nissin-URC will become more efficient and profitable.

Mapa said noodles have become an all-day staple in the country and the trend will grow and become more pervasive as the country’s population grows and seeks fastfood convenience.

“This transaction will help us ride the wave of growth that we expect in the coming years and beyond. We are now second in the market and we want a bigger piece of the pie,” he said.

Nissin-URC makes and markets Nissin Cup Noodles, Nissin Ramen and Nissin Yakisoba in the Philippines.

Nissin, for its part, is Japan’s leading noodle company while URC, under its own portfolio, offers value-for-money instant noodles through the Payless brand and is also behind top brands Jack n’ Jill, Hunt’s, C2, Blend 45, Uno Feeds and Cream All.

As the food manufacturing arm of the Gokongwei family’s , URC is currently one of the largest branded consumer food and beverage product companies in the Philippines.