Uni-President eyes Tribeco takeover

Uni-President eyes Tribeco takeover

Troubled beverage firm Tribeco will hold a meeting next Friday to discuss the dissolution of the company. If it is dissolved, Taiwanese food processor Uni-President may completely take over Tribeco.

Tribeco shares, formerly coded TRI, were delisted from the HCM City Stock Exchange in April due to continuous losses.

Later in June, Kinh Do Confectionery Co (KDC), a dominant shareholder of Tribeco, divested from the bankrupt beverage producer, paving the way for Uni-President to take over.

On Tuesday, Kinh Do announced that the divestment in Tribeco recorded a financial profit of only VND1.7 billion (US$80,900), leaving behind its ambition of exploiting Tribeco resources.

In 2005, after acquiring a 35.4 per cent stake in the company, Kinh Do boasted it would "bring Tribeco to new heights."

This ambition was partially realised by the investment in Tribeco Binh Duong and Northern Tribeco.

However, a former leader of Tribeco alleged that these two plants did not work efficiently and the strategies they implemented were completely unfeasible, pushing Tribeco into debt.

Meanwhile, Tribeco continued to buy shares of other companies.

As Kinh Do decided to withdraw capital from this business, Uni-President planned to gain control of Tribeco.

In July 2009, when Tribeco raised its charter capital to more than VND275 billion ($13 million), Uni-President increased its ownership to 44 per cent and assigned its people to Tribeco's management board. Earlier in 2008, Uni-President had taken full control of Tribeco Binh Duong.

Since then, Tribeco only acted as a seller, entirely dependent on sources provided by Tribeco Binh Duong, which was actually owned by the Taiwanese producer.

"Tribeco led itself to difficulties by selling off aspects of core production," said independent expert Le Dat Chi.

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