San Miguel acquires Australian bottler Barossa

Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has expanded its international footprint with the acquisition of Australian bottler Barossa Bottling Services Pty Ltd.

In an emailed statement on Thursday, SMC said it acquired the specialist and independent wine bottling and packaging facility in line with its efforts to expand further in the Australasian region.

"With this new acquisition, SMC's packaging group expects the contribution of its Australian and New Zealand businesses to be close to 300 million Australian dollars," the statement read.

The acquisition was done by SMC's international packaging business San Miguel Yamamura Packaging International Ltd. (SYMPIL), through its subsidiary San Miguel Yamamura Australasia Pty Ltd.

"We remain bullish on the Australasian market and will continue to look for bigger and better opportunities in that region," SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said.

"In the meantime, our Philippine operations will continue to expand to meet growing domestic and export demands," he added.

To recall, Ang in May said San Miguel Brewery Inc., the liquor unit of SMC, plans to put up a brewery in Los Angeles, California in efforts to increase the company's production capacity. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News