Food conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) has acquired convertible corporate bonds issued by Yahoo Taiwan Holdings Ltd (雅虎), setting its sights on cooperating with Yahoo in e-commerce.
In a statement released on Friday, Uni-President said its subsidiary Cayman President Holdings Ltd spent US$25 million to acquire Yahoo Taiwan’s corporate bonds, adding that the investment would not target any stake ownership in Yahoo, but did not rule out teaming up with Yahoo in e-commerce.
The food giant said the group has put a wide range of products on Yahoo’s e-commerce platform for many years, and that the two sides have forged close business ties.
Photo: CNA
If Uni-President and Yahoo team up in e-commerce development, the cooperation is expected to enhance the food supplier’s competitive edge in this field, as Yahoo has built a large pool of e-commerce talent and is capable of providing prompt logistics services to local consumers after doing business in Taiwan for more than two decades, Uni-President said.
At present, Uni-President owns Books.com.tw (博客來), which generates almost NT$8 billion (US$256 million) in revenue per year by selling books and miscellaneous items online, while President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which owns more than 6,000 7-Eleven convenience stores in Taiwan, launched iOPEN Mall in March last year to further penetrate the e-commerce sector.
In addition, Uni-President’s organic food unit Santa Cruz (聖德科斯) sells fresh meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit online, while Cosmed (康是美), a health and beauty unit, also owns the online eShop.
In recent years, Uni-President has devoted itself to building a regional logistics platform by integrating its offline and online retail capabilities, with its business spanning across Asia including China, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. In Taiwan, Uni-President operates 45 logistics centers.
The company’s consolidated sales last year grew 10.74 percent year-on-year to NT$580.99 billion.
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