SMIC ups stake in Goldilocks

MANILA, Philippines — SM Investments Corp., the listed conglomerate of the Sy Group, is raising its stake in Goldilocks Bakeshop Inc. to 74 percent, three years after after first grabbing a slice of the Filipino-owned bakeshop.

The board of directors of SMIC approved yesterday the acquisition of a majority stake in Goldilocks, which will make Goldilocks a subsidiary of the holding company.

Goldilocks started in 1966 when Filipino-Chinese sisters Milagros Leelin Yee and Clarita Leelin Go and their sister in law Doris Wilson Leelin opened the company’s first store along Pasong Tamo in Makati.

SMIC first bought into the company in 2018, acquiring a 34 percent stake, months after an initial attempt to buy into the bakeshop did not push through.

SMIC’s SM Retail Inc. initially backed out of a deal to acquire 100 percent of Goldilocks in February 2018, citing changes in the general business environment at the time.

But SMIC decided to push through with the deal later on, acquiring a minority stake in Goldilocks which has more than 600 stores nationwide.

At the time, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), the government’s anti-trust body, approved the P2-billion transaction, provided that the deal would not hinder competition inside SM malls, which include giving Goldilocks’ competitors a “fair chance” to their positions in SM malls at all times.