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ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Saha-expands-with-3-new-JVs-30289534.html

EXPANSION

SIRIVISH TOOMGUM
THE NATION July 1, 2016 1:00 am

SAHA GROUP, a diversified consumer-products company, will today ink its third joint-venture agreement this week.

Yesterday the group’s Thai President Foods (TF), a manufacturer of instant noodles and biscuits, signed a joint-venture deal with Japan’s leading ramen-chain operator Kourakuen Holdings Corporation to form President Kourakuen Co Ltd.

Under the new entity, more Kourakuen ramen restaurant branches will be launched in Thailand.

TF owns 70 per cent in the joint venture, while the Japanese partner holds 14 per cent. The rest is owned by individuals. The move is in line with the TF board giving approval on June 15 to enter into the transaction.

The joint venture, which will be registered today, will start operations in early September. The joint venture has registered capital of Bt25 million.

Kourakuen (Thailand) has been in the Kingdom for a few years and has six restaurants. The joint venture will keep open two profitable branches, one in Bangkok and one in Sri Racha, Chon Buri province, while the rest will be closed.

According to TF chief business development officer Petch Paniangvait, the joint venture plans to operate over 30 Kourakuen restaurant branches nationwide within five years that are expected to generate Bt540 million in total revenue per year. However, no branch will open this year.

TF has also acquired a ramen noodle-production factory from Kourakuen, which the former will use to provide ramen under the joint venture. The new entity will focus on restaurant-chain management.

Kourakuen Holdings president Tsutae Niida said that the company was keen to use Thailand as a springboard into the other Asean countries.

TF chief executive officer Pipat Paniangvait said that TF had forecast revenue growth of 5 per cent for TF this year.

Saha Group also yesterday signed a deal with Japan fashion-apparel company World Co Ltd to set up a joint venture, World Saha Fashion Co Ltd, with the former owning 51 per cent, to develop and distribute the World’s Takeo Kikuchi men’s products in Thailand.

Today Saha Group will ink a joint-venture deal with Mayflower Group of Malaysia to offer diverse and comprehensive tour services for tourists coming to Thailand.The joint venture with World has registered capital of Bt50 million and is expected to get off the ground late this year.

Its establishment marks World’s first entry into the Thai market, which is the regional hub of the rapidly growing fashion market in Asean.

The first store under the joint venture is expected to be launched early next year and World is discussing with Saha Group the possible location of that, said World Group CEO Kenji Kamiyama.

S KHONKAEN Foods, a major producer of traditional Thai foods, is negotiating the setting up of a joint venture in Los Angeles with a top trading firm that has a strong distribution network in the United States.

The Thai company will also have its seafood-products subsidiary listed on the Market for Alternative Investment by November, so there is a flagship entity when it comes to penetrating international markets.

Chief executive officer Charoen Rujirasopon said the negotiations with the US-based trading firm, which is owned by a Thai national, were nearly complete. If the talks are successful, the joint venture should be set up by the end of this year to look after the distribution of S Khonkaen’s products, including snacks and chilled food, in the US, Canada and Mexico.

“We will appoint a local manufacturer in the US to produce products via an OEM [original equipment manufacturing] contract, so we can control all product formulas. However, in the long term, we plan to build our own production facilities in the US once we have high sales volume or worth about Bt100 million per year,” Charoen said.

He added that the joint venture would be set up in line with S Khonkaen’s vision to become a leading manufacturer and distributor of Thai foods in the world market by 2020.

The company set up S Khonkaen Foods (Netherlands) three years ago to oversee the European market and has appointed a sole agent for the Australian market. This year, S Khonkaen will appoint another agent to look after the Middle East market, he said.

“Our aim is to boost the contribution from international markets from 8 per cent to about 30 per cent by 2020,” he said.

Charoen added that S Khonkaen expected its annual sales revenue to hit Bt6 billion by 2020, of which about 30 per cent would come from export. Over this period, the company also hopes for 15-per-cent organic growth, while the rest will be driven by its joint-venture possibilities for snack and seafood businesses in the US, mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan.

S Khonkaen posted Bt2.4 billion in sales revenue last year, up 11 per cent over 2014. The company targets 15-per -cent growth in sales revenue this year, and grew by 11-12 per cent year on year in the first quarter.

The current contribution from exports stands at 8 per cent. The company has been exporting goods to some 20 different markets, including chilled seafood to the US and Europe, and meat-based products such as pork sausage and shredded pork to Hong Kong and mainland China.