Fraser and Neave

Fraser and Neave
Public
Traded as SGX: F99
Industry Conglomerate
Founded 1883 (as Singapore and Straits Aerated Water Company)
Founder John Fraser
David Chalmers Neave
Headquarters Singapore
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Chairman
Products Food and Beverage, Brewing, Property, Publishing
Revenue Increase $5.697 billion USD (March 2011)[1]
Profit Increase $584 million USD (March 2011)[1]
Total assets $14 billion[2]
Owner ThaiBev
Number of employees
 >17,000[2]
Subsidiaries Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd,
Frasers Centrepoint Group,
Times Publishing Group
Website www.fraserandneave.com

Fraser and Neave, Limited (F&N, Chinese: 星狮集团; pinyin: Xīngshī Jítuán) is a food and beverage, brewing, property and publishing industries conglomerate in Singapore.

Listed in Singapore, the group’s subsidiaries and associated companies include Frasers Centrepoint, Asia Pacific Breweries and Times Publishing. As of 2011, F&N had total assets of over S$14 billion and employed over 17,000 people in 20 countries.[2]

History

Early years (1883–1931)

The company (Singapore and Straits Aerated Water Company) was formed in 1883 by John Fraser and David Chalmers Neave, who diversified from their printing business (Singapore and Straits Printing Office) to pioneer the aerated water business in Southeast Asia in 1883.

In 1898, a new public company was formed and the two businesses were sold to the new company, named Fraser & Neave (F&N), for $290,000 in cash and shares.[3]

Diversification, restructuring, and expansion (1931–1990)

In 1931, Fraser & Neave formed a joint venture with Holland’s Heineken to venture into the brewing business. The brewery, Malayan Breweries Limited produced Tiger Beer, and later acquired Archipelago Brewery, which produced Anchor Beer.[4]

In 1936, F&N acquired the Singapore, Malaya and Brunei franchise rights for Coca-Cola drinks. Alongside its own range of F&N branded drinks, the company went on to acquire the rights to other PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Cadbury Schweppes brands – such as – 7-Up, Fanta, and Sunkist.

In 1990, Malayan Breweries changed its name to Asia Pacific Breweries.

Recent history (1990–2012)

In 1999, F&N purchased a 20% stake in Time Publishing before taking majority control of the company in 2000, with the entire acquisition costing around S$570 million.[5] This put F&N into the printing, publishing, retail bookstore, sales and distribution, education, internet and conference organisation businesses. In 2001, F&N took both Time and Centrepoint Properties private.

In 2006, the Singapore government investment company Temasek Holdings took a 14.9%, S$900 million stake in F&N, becoming F&N’s second-largest investor.[6] In 2008, F&N reorganised its management structure and appointed chief executives for three of its core businesses, food & beverage, property and printing and publishing.[7]

Temasek’s entire stake was sold to Japan’s Kirin Holdings for S$1.33 billion in 2010.[8] In July 2012, ThaiBev acquired a 22-per-cent stake in F&N from Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, raising its stake to 24.1%.[9]

On 1 September 2011, the three-quarter-century partnership between F&N and Coca-Cola in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei ended. F&N no longer had the franchise rights to manufacture and market Coca-Cola beverages.

In August 2012, F&N accepted an offer from Heineken to acquire its stake in Asia Pacific Breweries for US$4.1 billion.[10] In September 2012, ThaiBev and its partner TCC Assets, both controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi made a move to thwart efforts by Heineken to acquire control of Asia Pacific Breweries, with a S$8.8 billion (US$7.1 billion) cash offer for F&N.[11] Other companies, such as, Coca-Cola and Kirin Holdings, has also shown interest for the soft-drink and food businesses of F&N, in order to expand their operations in Asia.[12][13]

F&N shareholders approved the deal to sell Asia Pacific Breweries to Heineken during the extraordinary general meeting held on September 28, 2012.[14]

2013 – present

Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi expanded his ThaiBev drinks and property empire to include about two-thirds of this Singapore conglomerate.[15] This was possible after Japan's Kirin Brewery Company sold its 15% stake for USD 1.6 billion to Sirivadhanabhakdi.[16]

Products

100PLUS 2009

Oishi Redbull

External links

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "F&N Annual Report". Fraser and Neave. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "About Us: Fraser & Neave". Fraser & Neave. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Fraser and Neave, Ltd". Singapore Free Press. 27 January 1898. p. 3.
  4. ↑ Frankham, Steve (17 June 2008). Malaysia and Singapore. Footprint Travel Guides. p. 539. ISBN 978-1-906098-11-7. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Lee, HS (27 April 2000). "What’s in Times Publishing that attracts F&N?". Business Times.
  6. ↑ Yap, E (9 December 2006). "F&N sells 14.9% stake to Temasek for $900m". The Straits Times.
  7. ↑ Goh, E (2 July 2008). "More questions than answers in F&N’s management revamp". The Straits Times.
  8. ↑ Yap, E (27 July 2010). "Temasek exits F&N with $436m profit fizz". The Straits Times.
  9. ↑ "Thai Beverage increases stake in F&N". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  10. ↑ "Heineken reaches US$4.1b deal for Asia Pacific Breweries". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Thai group, Heineken in Tiger beer battle". CNN. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "ThaiBev makes offer for F&N". ChannelNewsAsia. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  13. ↑ "Thai Billionaire Bids for F&N in Hurdle for Heineken in Asia". Bloomberg. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "Heineken takeover of Tiger Beer maker approved". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  15. ↑ Head, Jonathan (3 February 2013). "Thai whiskey tycoon Charoen takes over Fraser and Neave". Asia business (BBC News). Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 3 February 2013. BBC News, Bangkok. What are the secrets of business success in Thailand?
  16. ↑ "Thai tycoons go for it in multi-billion deals". Investvine.com. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-03-15.

Bibliography