Century Pacific Food, Inc. (PSE: CNPF) announced today the acquisition of the Philippine license for Hunt’s, the country’s number one pork & beans brand.
Under the deal, CNPF will purchase the rights to manufacture, sell, and distribute Hunt’s branded products in the Philippines from Hunt-Universal Robina Corporation (HURC), a 50-50 joint venture between locally listed Universal Robina Corporation (URC) and ConAgra Foods (ConAgra).
ConAgra, one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, will continue to own the Hunt’s trademark globally.
The acquisition by CNPF will also include the transfer of manufacturing assets and inventory related to HURC’s Hunt’s product lineup. Currently, this lineup includes pork & beans, tomato-based spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and marinade sauce.
“We are excited about expanding our portfolio with brands and products that resonate with Filipino consumers. Hunt’s is a welcome addition with its local dominance in pork & beans, its emerging presence in condiments, and its potential to be another source of growth for us,” said CNPF’s President and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Po.
CNPF, the country’s largest canned food company, has an established track record of brand-building, which now spans close to forty years. It has developed a roster of household names which include Century Tuna, Argentina Corned Beef, 555, Angel, and Birch Tree, maintaining market leadership in both the canned tuna and canned meat segments.
Hunt’s, one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of tomato-based products, has a long heritage, spanning more than 100 years globally. It entered the Philippines in 1984, initially with a one-product strategy, launching the iconic Hunt’s Pork & Beans.
Since then, it has demonstrated consistent profitability and brand strength.
Today, Hunt’s maintains an expanded product portfolio, which includes other tomato-based culinary sauces, and dominates the ready-to-eat canned beans category with an 86% market share locally.
“This will be an accretive acquisition for us and we see a number of potential synergies. These include synergies in the supply chain, distribution, manufacturing, and marketing,” said Po.
He added, “We also look forward to leveraging on the track record and category leadership that URC has built for Hunt’s here in the Philippines. We are excited to work with ConAgra to further grow the brand locally,” Po added.
“Hunt’s was the first joint venture brand of URC in partnership with ConAgra and together we have built a strong grocery category in pork & beans and sauces,” said URC’s President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Gokongwei.
“We have recently conducted a strategic review of our portfolio and have shifted our focus to our core categories, namely snackfoods and beverages, which are geared towards convenience and on-the-go occasions. Given this shift, URC and ConAgra have decided to spin off Hunt’s to CNPF as we believe that their strength in the grocery category can further add value and take the brand to new levels of growth in the years to come,” added Gokongwei.
In late 2016, CNPF also acquired the Kamayan trademark for North America, one of the top names for shrimp paste, which represented the Company’s initial foray into branded categories outside its core segments of marine, meat, and milk.
More recently, CNPF disclosed that its 2016 net income reached Php2.66 billion, an increase of 37% year-on-year on the back of double-digit branded revenue growth, improved profitability, and the full-year consolidation of its coconut business.
