Food Empire subsidiary enters joint venture with US$12.24m investment

FUTURE Investment Holdings - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Food Empire Holdings - on Wednesday entered into a joint venture agreement with Sweet Blossom Holdings, for a total investment of US$12.24 million.

Together, they have formed a joint venture company, Hallyu Ventures, to carry out investments into other food and beverage companies in Korea and the region.

Future Investment and Sweet Blossom - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eastern Valley Group - shall each hold an equity stake of 51 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, in Hallyu Ventures.

This is through the subscription of ordinary shares and/or advancement of loans in the latter, up to an aggregate of US$24 million in two tranches progressively.

Future Investment's first tranche of investment will be US$7.34 million.

Its total investment is expected to be financed through internal cash resources and bank borrowings.

The joint venture is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share and net asset value per share of the Food Empire for the current financial year.