Oishi, Ichitan branch out within Asean
Two major food and beverage giants - Oishi Group and Ichitan Group - are launching joint-venture deals within Asean to cash in on the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which comes into effect next year.
After successfully opening its first Japanese restaurant in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, in July, Oishi Group plans to expand its restaurant network in Asean with joint-venture (JV) possibilities being negotiated with potential partners in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Ichitan Group will today announce a partnership with PT Atri Pasifik to set up a company named Ichitan Indonesia for the manufacture and distribution of Ichitan ready-to-drink tea in Indonesia. PT Atri Pasifik is a JV between PT Sigmantra Alfindo – a large business conglomerate in Indonesia – and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.
According to its report to the Thai stock market yesterday, Ichitan Group will hold a 50-per-cent stake in Ichitan Indonesia, with the remainder owned by PT Atri Pasifik. The new company will have Bt1.184 billion in registered capital.
Ichitan’s overseas expansion is set to cash in on strong potential in Indonesia’s tea market, which enjoys average growth of 15 per cent per annum.
Oishi Group is expanding its two major Japanese-restaurant brands – Shabushi and Nikuya – into neighbouring countries in Asean, said Paisarn Aowsathaporn, executive vice president for the food division.
The first such venture was last month’s opening of a Shabushi restaurant in Yangon, an investment set up via a JV with City Mart, a Myanmar retail giant that operates the country’s City Mart supermarkets and Ocean department stores.
Oishi Group holds a 55-per-cent stake in the JV company, Oishi Myanmar, with the remainder owned by City Mart. The company was established in June with US$1 million (about Bt32 million) in registered capital.
He said a second Shabushi restaurant in Myanmar would be opened in Mandalay in October, followed by another in Yangon in December.
The group expects to have about 10 Shabushi restaurants in Yangon within the next five years, he added.
“In addition to Myanmar, we are also negotiating with potential partners for joint-venture possibilities to open our restaurants in other neighbouring markets, comprising Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia,” said the executive.
Paisarn said Oishi Group expected its food division to achieve about Bt13 billion in annual sales by 2018, and to contribute half of the group’s revenues within that timespan. About Bt3 billion of the projected income is expected to come from overseas markets.
Meanwhile, the food division is expected to generate sales of about Bt7 billion this year, up 21 per cent from last year’s level.
The Shabushi and Oishi Buffet brands together contribute 80 per cent of the group’s food business.
Paisarn said the group had set a five-year plan to invest about Bt3 billion in the local expansion of its Japanese restaurants, with Bt600 million earmarked annually to open about 50 new outlets per year.
