Emperador pays back P14-B loan used to buy whisky firm
Tycoon Andrew Tan’s Emperador Inc., one of the world’s largest producers of brandy, had paid back a £210-million (P13.7 billion) loan it took out to partly finance the acquisition of Scotch whisky-maker Whyte & Mackay Group Ltd. for £430 million last year.
Emperador said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that Emperador International Ltd., the unit that loaned the funds, paid the full amount on April 8, 2015.
The company had said that it was in the process of paying back the loan deal, which it entered into last Sept. 30, 2014, citing its cash pile that amounted to P4.85 billion at the end of 2014.
The move would free up the company’s balance sheet, and allow it to pursue expansion activities and potential acquisitions “when opportunities arise in the domestic and global markets,” Emperador chief finance officer Dina Inting said in a previous statement.
Emperador is best known for its brandy products, which account for about 21 percent of the global market, Emperador International managing director Jorge Domecq had said.
That figure could rise further as the company makes new inroads in Europe and Africa, he said.
In the Philippines, the company is launching at least eight “major liquor products” this year, Emperador President Winston Co also said.
Emperador, which controls more than half of Philippine liquor sales, earlier announced that net income in 2014 hit P6.1 billion, up 5 percent over the same period in 2013.
Its consolidated revenues rose 7 percent to P32 billion in 2014 and that figure is expected to rise by about 35 percent in 2015, Emperador said in a statement.
The liquor-maker earlier said net income would hit P11.6 billion by 2017, about double its earnings in 2013.
Euromonitor International had forecast “healthy growth” in the global brandy market from 2013 to 2018, with volume to reach 195 million cases by 2018.
Apart from Whyte & Mackay, the company has also acquired and invested in vineyard and brandy production assets in Spain.
