MerryMart’s market debut

It was a merry time for market investors on Monday, at least for those who had bet on property tycoon Injap Sia’s grocery chain operator MerryMart Consumer Corp., for a purely essential consumer play.

Apparently, Injap’s winning streak remains strong even in a year of uncertainties, disappointments and anxiety. Six years ago, his DoubleDragon also sizzled in the stock market and continued to soar in the years that followed. As I write this, MerryMart has hit the ceiling for three straight days now. People are trading on hope in a time of uncertainty.

Luck isn’t enough, of course. In reality, Injap had it well-planned.

Asked why he pushed through with the initial public offering (IPO) in the middle of the pandemic, Injap said many of the most successful businesses around the world either started or tightened their market grip during a crisis.

“Because actually, during a highly challenging period like where we are now, the large established players’ huge size and heaviness suddenly become a disadvantage, and natural to a major crisis comes the repositioning of elements such as a major change of customer behavior, which suddenly the pile of money alone cannot solve,” Injap says.

Big ship versus small boat

A giant company, according to Injap, is like a very big ship with a complete, sophisticated dashboard.

“During a major, once-in-a-generation crisis like this global pandemic, suddenly the levers in the sophisticated dashboard malfunction and are of little use, then the big ship panics,” he says.

“Then the odds suddenly favor the success rate of tiding through of the team in the small boat rather than the bigger one as they are used to having very little resources, are used to the start-up environment of being in a crisis every day for the first five to seven years, and the team is used to relying on their natural senses to navigate their way toward their destination, passing through both calm and rough seas, day in and day out.”

If MerryMart is the small boat, who could be the big ship in the purely essential consumer space? There are many established supermarket operators in the industry.

Asked if MerryMart would be replacing the Sy-owned Savemore supermarkets in some of his CityMalls, Injap says MerryMart can come in anytime the supermarket space is available in the community malls.

Unfazed by the Goliaths in the industry, this small boat indeed will sail through sunny skies and stormy weather, just as DoubleDragon did years ago.

Yanson compromise deal

After last week’s column about the ongoing Yanson family feud, I learned from Sugarlandia sources why the compromise deal failed.

One of the two warring sibling camps of Bacolod’s most powerful clan, I’ve been told, withdrew from the settlement agreement because it meant giving up company shares that were allegedly given to them by their parents a long time ago. Should they refuse, the alleged consequence would be incarceration. This, apparently, was the main reason why the proposed peace pact, days before Christmas last year, didn’t materialize.

With no peace agreement, the war rages on. Early this month, a Bacolod court issued arrest warrants for alleged grave coercion against the so-called Yanson Four. Last week, another court issued arrest warrants for the non-bailable offense of carnapping for the alleged theft of company vehicles during a police-led operation to retake control of the Bacolod-based bus company.

Caught in the midst of the bitter family war, I was told, are some Yanson grandchildren who are just in their 20s. As company directors, they, too, were included in the carnapping charges.

Meanwhile, the intra-corporate proceedings that would determine who among the Yanson siblings are the rightful majority shareholders of the country’s largest bus company remains pending.

Given the recent developments, chances of family reconciliation are truly slim, if not impossible.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com