Singapore's SATS buys 13% more stake in MacroAsia Catering

Aviation service provider MacroAsia Corp. is selling 13 percent of its stake in subsidiary MacroAsia Catering Services Inc. to Singapore-based SATS Ltd. for P168.8 million.

 

MacroAsia Catering is the dominant airline catering company in the Philippines.

 

Under a sale and purchase agreement signed by both parties on Wednesday, MacroAsia will reduce its stake in MacroAsia Catering by 162,500 shares – bringing down its ownership in the subsidiary to 67 percent from 80 percent, MacroAsia said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

 

SATS, on the other hand, will raise to 33 percent its equity stake in MacroAsia Catering from 20 percent, with an initial payment offering of P168.8 million plus a potential earnings consideration for the 13 percent equity.

 

To be completed on August 31, the transaction is a strategic move to further strengthen the partnership between SATS and MacroAsia in the food service business in the Philippines, according to the disclosure.

 

MacroAsia earlier acquired an additional 13 percent stake in MacroAsia Catering under a sale and purchase agreement with the Compass Group International in June 2006, a transaction valued at P36.4 million. Originally established in the UK, Compass is a contract foodservice, cleaning, property management and support services company.

 

SATS and MacroAsia are also joint venture partners in MacroAsia SATS Food Industries Corp., a P300-million food commissary serving institutional clients such as hotels, casinos, and call centers.

 

Both companies have been doing business together through MacroAsia Catering since 1998. – Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VS, GMA News