The Philippines: San Miguel Corporation targets opening of 10 new breweries with initial capacity of 2 mln hl each

San Miguel Corporation president Ramon Ang is busy arranging the biggest expansion yet for the conglomerate, Forbes Asia reported on August 28.

“Our target is to put up 10 new breweries with an initial capacity of 2 million hectolitres each,” Ang said in an interview with the magazine.

“On our food expansion, we are on track to finish our 12 brand-new feed mills of 500,000 annual ton capacity per feed mill by 2023,” he added.

After San Miguel Food and Beverage (SMFB) made it to Forbes Asia’s inaugural “Best Over A Billion” list of 200 top-performing companies in Asia-Pacific region with over $1 billion revenues, Ang is now aiming to double the group’s output.

In 2017, San Miguel’s production capacity reached 19 million hectolitres of beer and 2.6 million tons of feed.

San Miguel went through restructuring since 2018 as its beer and liquor business merged with the listed food unit and renamed the combined entity as SMFB. Its $2 billion market capitalization jumped to $7 billion.

According to Forbes Asia, Ang needs a P200 billion ($3.8 billion) to succeed in the expansion. Some of the fund will be pulled out from cash flow and some will be borrowed.

San Miguel recently bagged the contract to build and operate the P735-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.

Asked how he finds the time to plan new airports and railways while managing San Miguel’s chicken sales in supermarkets, “We are more hands-on and we spend more time in the office. On average, all of us spend 10 hours a day in the office, Monday to Saturday,” Ang said.

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