Indonesian pharmaceutical producer PT Kalbe Farma said on Friday it would establish a business unit in the Philippines to expand its global market reach. Kalbe Farma, through subsidiary Kalbe International Pte. Ltd, signed on May 17 a deal with the Philippines’ Ecossential Foods Corp (ECO) to form a joint venture firm to market all products, apart from prescription drugs, in the country. ECO specializes in the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods. The two companies are still in the process of establishing the joint venture, publicly listed Kalbe said in a filing with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).
“The Philippines has strong market potential for Kalbe Farma,” said the company.
Kalbe Farma will own 60 percent of the joint venture firm and ECO the remaining 40 percent. The two firms plan to inject 130 million Philippine pesos (US$2.48 million) in initial capital. Kalbe will finance its share using cash. The joint venture is part of Kalbe’s plan to strengthen its foreign market presence this year, specifically in Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Cambodia, as it seeks to raise the contribution of exports to between 5 and 6 percent of its total revenue, up from 4.8 percent last year.
The joint venture is part of Kalbe’s plan to strengthen its foreign market presence this year, specifically in Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Cambodia, as it seeks to raise the contribution of exports to between 5 and 6 percent of its total revenue, up from 4.8 percent last year. Kalbe’s 2021 annual report showed that its most popular products in the Philippines included cereal bars of the Fitbar brand and the diabetic-friendly nutritional product line Diabetasol.
Kalbe is also in the process of establishing a subsidiary, Kalbe Philippines Inc. (KPI), that cost an advance fee of $200,000. The move was pending regulatory approval as of March 31, according to Kalbe’s latest financial report. Kalbe posted a 16.5 percent year-on-year increase in net profit to Rp835 billion in the first quarter of this year, as revenue rose 16.6 percent to Rp7.01 trillion.
May 30, 2022, The Jakarta Post
(https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2022/05/30/kalbe-farma-to-open-business-unit-in-philippines.html)