Uni-President acquires Yahoo Taiwan's bonds, eyes cooperation in e-commerce

Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) Taiwan based food conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp. has acquired convertible corporate bonds issued by Yahoo! Taiwan Holdings Ltd., setting its sights on cooperating with Yahoo in e-commerce.

In a statement released on Friday, Uni-President said its subsidiary Cayman President Holdings Ltd. spent US$25 million to acquire Yahoo Taiwan's corporate bonds, adding that the investment will not target any stake ownership in Yahoo, but it did not rule out the possibility of teaming up with Yahoo in e-commerce.

The food giant said the group has put a wide range of products on Yahoo's e-commerce platform for many years, and both sides have forged close business ties.

It said if Uni-President and Yahoo team up in e-commerce development, the cooperation is expected to strengthen the food supplier's competitive edge in this field as Yahoo has built a large pool of e-commerce talent and it is capable of providing prompt logistics services to local consumers after doing business in Taiwan for more than two decades.

At present, Uni-President owns Books.com, a major online retail platform, which generates almost NT$8 billion (US$256 million) in sales each year. Books.com is one of the major online book sellers in Taiwan, while it also sells miscellaneous items to consumers.

Uni-President's President Chain Store Corp., which owns more than 6,000 7-Eleven convenience stores in Taiwan, launched iOPEN Mall in March to further penetrate the e-commerce sector.

In addition, Uni-President's organic food unit Santa Cruz sells fresh meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit online, while COSMED, a health and beauty unit, also owns online eShop.

In recent years, Uni-President has devoted itself to building a logistics platform in the region by integrating its offline and online retail capabilities.

Its business, which ranges from food production, to retail and trading and investments, has spanned across Asia, tapping regional markets such as China, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. In Taiwan, Uni-President operates 45 logistics centers.

Earlier this week, Uni-President announced its intent to pursue 100 percent ownership of South Korean subsidiary Woongjin Foods Co. through tender offers.

The company said its board approved a plan to acquire the remaining 20.68 percent stake in Woongjin which Uni-President does not yet own, to fully bring the South Korean food supplier under its corporate umbrella.

Uni-President Chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) has said his goal is for the company's annual sales to hit NT$700 billion (US$22.36 billion).

In 2023, the company had consolidated sales of NT$580.99 billion, up 10.74 percent from a year earlier.