Robinsons Retail eyes family-owned chains to compete with rival

Billionaire John Gokongwei is scouting chains of family-owned stores to expand into faster-growing Philippine towns as part of a plan to compete with retail stores controlled by the nation's richest man, Henry Sy.

Robinsons Retail Holdings is looking for family-owned grocery or pharmacy chains of three to eight outlets outside the capital Manila, president Robina Gokongwei-Pe said in an interview. It plans to spend 26 billion pesos (HK$4.6 billion) up to 2016 on expansion, said chief financial officer Dong Zapata.

Robinsons Retail has made at least four acquisitions since November, when its shares started trading, as it competes with Sy's SM Retail and Puregold Price Club. Gokongwei-Pe's push to expand in other parts of the country comes as President Benigno Aquino plans to boost spending to a record this year and lure investments to improve infrastructure and create jobs.

"We can see that growth is spreading," Gokongwei-Pe, the eldest daughter of John Gokongwei, said last week. Outside Metro Manila "is where the penetration of modern trade is still very low and people are looking for a better store environment, a better product range, better customer service," she said.

Robinsons Retail has gained 9.5 per cent since November, compared with the 4.6 per cent gain in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index. John Gokongwei has an estimated net worth of US$2.9 billion.

While Metropolitan Manila accounts for 36 per cent of the national output, four of the five fastest-growing regions in 2012 were in the Visayas and Mindanao, according to government data. The Visayas is a group of islands in the central Philippines and Mindanao is the nation's second-biggest island.