Del Monte to buy share of Saico

Eurofood, Dec 3, 1998

South African giant Del Monte Royal Foods has strengthened its hold on the world canned pineapple market by signing a memorandum of understanding to buy a majority share of Siam Agro Industry Pineapple and Other (Saico), one of Thailand' s leading pineapple exporters. Del Monte already has an approximately 35% share of the world pineapple market and has been looking to consolidate its presence in southeast Asia. This is the company's first investment in Thailand.

"Our longstanding presence in this region has given us a good understanding of how to best operate within the market place, and we are confident that our expertise in the pineapple market can be transferred to companies we invest in to help them reach their growth potential," said Vivian Imerman, chairman of Del Monte.

Saico restructuring debt

Saico is one of Thailand' s four largest exporters of canned pineapple, accounting for some 14% of the country's total exports of 35 million cartons. It has an annual production capacity of 6.6 million cartons of canned pineapple. It also has a registered capital of 300m baht, of which 165m baht is paid up. The company is reported to be negotiating a restructuring of its debt of 1.4bn baht.