Metro Pacific looking to pivot into cold storages
Metro Pacific Investments [MPI 4.13 2.2%] [link] said that it is looking at “certain cold storage businesses” in the logistics sector as possible acquisitions.
MPI has set aside P8 billion to purchase businesses in the agribusiness sector, and views cold storages as a complementary tactical area of interest to support its overall strategy of investing heavily in a broad range of agricultural businesses.
MPI’s previous logistics arm was focused solely on (dry) warehousing, but now it appears as though MPI has realized the long-term value of the cold storage sector and is prepared to take a big swing at one of the leading private cold storage providers in the country.
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As the article notes, the cold storage industry here is quite fragmented, and as I’ve mentioned before, there really are huge differences in quality between the top cold storage providers.
While there are no clear leaders with nationwide coverage, MPI has a chance to make a massive splash in this industry by putting the weight of its resources behind one of the front runners.
Reading between the lines a little bit, it does seem like Manny V. Pangilinan is loading up to take a few big shots before retirement.
He didn’t come right out a name a date for when he’ll hang up his suits for good, but the quotes yesterday did give the sense that he’s been thinking about it more and more recently, and my experience with people like MVP is that their interest turns to one of legacy in the final laps of their professional careers.
Maybe MVP’s “MVP move” is to assemble an avengers portfolio of agri-businesses to “Feed the Philippines” before kicking his feet up to enjoy his retirement?
MPI isn’t the only conglo on the cold storage hunt, so it makes sense for the tone of the article to suggest that things are perhaps moving quite quickly on that front.
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Merkado Barkada's opinions are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any particular stock. These daily articles are not updated with new information, so each investor must do his or her own due diligence before trading, as the facts and figures in each particular article may have changed.
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