Gokongwei family takes over Ministop PH 

Japan’s Ministop Co. Ltd. is selling all of its shares in the local Ministop venture to Gokongwei-led retail chain, Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc. (RCSI), according to a report by BusinessMirror.

According to a Nikkei report, the Japanese firm will sell its 40-percent stake in the local convenience store chain to RCSI.

The Japanese convenience store giant said it will also sell its stake in Ministop Korea to Korean conglomerate, Lotte. It has liquidated its Chinese unit in Quingdao last September.

Ministop has struggled to compete in the Philippines. According to its website, it has 511 stores in the country. The figure is fewer than 7-Eleven’s 3,019 branches as of end-September and Alfamart’s 1,161 stores.

Its other competitors include Lawson, operated by the businessman Lucio Co with 55 branches as of 2020; Familymart, bought in 2018 by Davao businessman Dennis Uy, has 87 stores; and the AllDay convenience store of the Villar Group which has 73 branches.

The Gokongwei family, through Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI), has the exclusive right to use the Ministop system in the Philippines which was granted to the group by Ministop Co. Ltd.

Royalty paid to its Japanese owners amounted to P33.65 million for the nine months of 2021, down from P43 million for the same period in 2020, as sales plummeted due to the pandemic.

Ministop recorded systemwide sales and net sales at P3.98 billion and P3.58 billion, respectively as of September 2021.

Systemwide sales growth rose 3.3 percent in the third quarter of 2021, from 1.7 percent in the previous quarter.

“Around 90 percent of our 458 stores are already operating as of end-September 2021, an increase from 87 percent last year. Of the operating stores, 59 percent are open 24 hours compared to 40 percent last year,” it said in its report.

In 2000, RRHI partnered with Ministop Co. Ltd and Mitsubishi Corp. to establish Ministop in the Philippines.

On August 28, 2018, Mitsubishi sold its entire 12 percent ownership in Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc. to Robinsons Inc. (RI) and Ministop.

As a result of the transaction, RI’s ownership interest in RCSI increased to 59.05 percent from 51 percent while Ministop’s ownership increased to 40.9 percent from 36.9 percent.

On November 4, 2019, Robinsons Inc. also purchased 18.94 million shares from Ministop Co. Ltd for P18.95 million. As a result of the transaction, RI’s ownership interest in RCSI increased to 60 percent from 59.05 percent.