Philippines' Century Pacific, Singapore's GIC to buy Shakey's Philippines

[MANILA] Philippines' conglomerate Century Pacific Group said on Wednesday it teamed up with Singapore's sovereign investor GIC to acquire the domestic operator of the Shakey's Pizza restaurant chain without disclosing financial terms of the deal.

The move to buy the local operation of US-based Shakey's, with close to 170 stores in the Philippines at end-2015, is the second deal between Century Pacific's controlling Po family and GIC.

In May 2014, the Singaporean fund converted a 3.38 billion pesos (S$99.4 million) loan into a 10 per cent stake in Century Pacific Food Inc, the group's canned goods maker.

The Shakey's deal would allow Century Pacific to benefit from the country's fast-growing restaurant industry, driven by the expanding middle class, Century Pacific President Christopher Po said in a statement.

REUTERS