Businessman invests in Fruitas Holdings

MANILA, Philippines — Businessman Tommanny Tan is investing in food kiosk operator Fruitas Holdings Inc,

Tan is acquiring 100 million Fruitas shares held by Lush Properties Inc. (LPI) for P122.5 million.

LPI is the holding company which owns the majority of Fruitas.

The shares were sold to  I-FERN Corp., a marketing company founded and managed by Tan where he its president and CEO.

“This investment will be a springboard for a partnership with Fruitas, which will expand the company’s revenue stream and distribution structure. We look forward and expect a bright future together,” Tan said.

Fruitas founder, president and CEO Lester Yu, said proceeds from the investment would  enable LPI to build its war chest for potential acquisition targets under the healthcare and self-care industries and further expansion of its current property portfolio.

“The investment of I-FERN is a testament of Fruitas Holdings’ strong performance and viable growth potential. We are grateful to Mr. Tan for the trust he has extended to us. We look forward to potential opportunities to cooperate as we serve healthy and affordable products to Filipinos,” Yu said.

Yu said the investment is expected to expand the reach of I-FERN and Fruitas as both parties have a symbiotic relationship by producing and distributing healthy products to its consumers.

The two entities entered into a block sale transaction on December 20 at an agreed price of P1.225 per share, about 12 percent higher versus the current market price of Fruitas.

I-FERN is the maker of premium quality health care products like FERN-D, FERN-ACTIV, and MilkCa to name a few.  It was previously included in the portfolio before its sale to STADA, an international pharmaceutical company.

Its range of healthcare and supplement products is distributed through its 300,000 strong network marketing system.

In 2007, FERN-C breached the P1 billion milestone in sales.