Bright Food said to pay a $400 million for Manassen stake(2)
Bright Food Group Co. chairman Wang Zongnan. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
Pan declined to comment on the price and the size of the stake being acquired. Reuters reported earlier that Bright Food was buying a stake in Manassen.
Wang has said he wants to increase sales outside China to as much as 30 percent of the company’s total in five years and has been looking for foreign assets in the sugar, dairy, wine, food distribution and manufacturing industries.
Bright Dairy gained 2.5 percent to 9.3 yuan as of the 3 p.m. close in Shanghai, after earlier dropping as much as 1.3 percent.
The transaction will boost Bright Food’s annual sales by more than 3 billion yuan ($469 million), one person said.
Bright Food’s first-half sales grew 18 percent to 35.7 billion yuan, it said in an Aug. 5 statement. Net income for the same period rose 21 percent to 1.63 billion yuan.
“The challenge is to integrate the assets they acquire as the confectionery market is highly competitive in China,” Wu said.
Market Share
Bright Food had 1.2 percent of China’s 41 billion yuan sugar confectionery market in 2010, ranking eighth, data from Euromonitor International show.
Hsu Fu Chi International led the market with 6.8 percent, according to the London-based researcher. Nestle SA, the world’s biggest foodmaker, has a 0.3 percent market share and in July agreed to buy 60 percent of Hsu Fu Chi.
Manassen Foods has brands in dry groceries, confectionery, cookies and cakes, perishables and frozen foods, according to its website. It was founded in 1953 and has more than 350 employees.
“Bright” is a brand created by Shanghai Yimin Foods Co. after the Communist Party took power in 1949. Bright Food was created in 2006 by combining Shanghai Yimin with three other state-owned companies.
Bright Food is also considering a bid for Treasury Wine Estates Ltd., the world’s second-biggest wine business, two people familiar with the matter said July 1.
Wang said in April that Bright Food may raise as much as 6 billion yuan this year by selling bonds and listing food assets.
