BIZ BUZZ: RSA, MVP jointly buying into Conti’s

Conti’s Bakeshop & Restaurant and Wendy’s Philippines, now under a new investor group backed by Malaysian businessman Jaya Sudhir, is bringing in two of the country’s top tycoons as formidable new partners in a P3-billion equity deal.

We’re talking about Ramon S. Ang and Manuel V. Pangilinan, who agreed to buy 15 percent each of Eight8Ate Holdings Inc., the holding firm for the two retailing brands, for P1.5 billion each, our reliable sources said.

No less than RSA confirmed the partnership with MVP in this Eight8Ate buy-in deal to Biz Buzz.

This is a deal that has been in the works for several months—as soon as Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy exited the business.

The partnership allows the tycoons to deepen their collaboration beyond infrastructure, following RSA’s investment in Metro Pacific Investments Corp. This is even as they have yet to finalize the proposed merger of their toll road businesses.

We earlier reported that Uy had sold Eight8Ate to entrepreneur Crystal Jacinto, Sudhir’s Filipina wife, in a P6-billion deal. We heard that RSA and MVP had agreed to buy existing, not new shares, allowing Jacinto and Sudhir to flip a portion of their stake at a premium.

The deal now values Eight8Ate, which has more than 70 stores under Conti’s and more than 80 under Wendy’s, at a whopping P10 billion! Whether the tycoons are getting their money’s worth, history will decide.

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With RSA on board, other sources said we can expect these food brands to soon get prominent locations at all those airports that the San Miguel group is developing and rehabilitating.

Also, the two tycoons have existing interests in the hospitality space: RSA has Diamond Hotel group, while MVP has leisure estate Landco Pacific Corp. and has recently taken interest in Camp John Hay. The restaurant business complements this segment.

There were earlier plans to bring Eight8Ate to public hands, albeit through the backdoor. But maybe now’s not the time to rush into it, given the challenging environment.