Thai noodle producer Thai President Foods plc has announced its intention to acquire all the shares in TM Foods Co, its joint venture with the Japanese company Myojo Foods Co.
Thai President is to spend THB400m (US$10.6m) on the share purchase. The company already owns 49% of TM Foods which produces Japanese-style noodles. The deal ends Myojo’s 20-year involvement in the Thai market.
“We have bought a 30% stake from Myojo Foods Co Ltd, our Japanese partner,” said Thai President’s director and president Pipat Paniangvait. “We also want to buy back the remaining shares from other local shareholders.”
Thai President, the largest local instant noodle manufacturer in Thailand and the owner of the Mama brand, expects to have gained 100% ownership of TM Foods by the end of this year.
Differences in approach had emerged between Thai President and its Japanese partner since Myojo was acquired by the Western venture capital group Steel Partner. “We can cope very well with Japanese philosophy, which focuses on long-term relationships,” Pipat was quoted as saying in the Thai newspaper The Nation. “This is different from the philosophy of the West, which is profit-oriented. We are not comfortable with that.”
The company plans to convert TM Foods into a production unit for the Mama brand, while Myojo instant noodle products are to be withdrawn from the Thai market within the coming two months.
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