Uni-President buys stake in Hi-Life

Uni-President Enterprises Co (統一企業), the country's largest food products maker, has bought a 31.25 percent stake in Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富) for NT$66 million, executive vice president Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) said yesterday at the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.

Tainan-based Uni-President also purchased 31.25 percent of Kuang-chuan Co's (光泉食品) shares for NT$22.44 million and an equal percentage of shares in Kuang-chuan Dairy Farm (光泉牧場) for NT$962 million, Lo said.

President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), an affiliate of Uni-President, is the nation's largest convenience store chain, with more than 3,300 outlets, followed by Family Mart Co's (全家便利商店) more than 1,500 outlets and Hi-Life's 940 stores.

Uni-President shares rose NT$0.6, or 3.06 percent, to NT$20.2 on the TAIEX yesterday. Lo made the announcement after the stock market closed. The company reported around NT$16 billion sales in Taiwan last year, compared to Kuang-chuan's more than NT$7 billion in sales.

Lo said Uni-President bought the shares from Wang Chun-chuan (汪圳泉), one of the biggest shareholders of family-run Kuang-chuan, for a total of NT$1.05 billion.

The share sale proceeded smoothly following two months of negotiations with Wang, he said.