Fruitas Holdings, Inc. has entered an agreement to acquire certain assets of Balai Pandesal Corporation ‘Balai Pandesal’. The acquisition will significantly accelerate the foray of Fruitas into the bakery sector.

Balai Pandesal opened its first store in 2012 and has built a strong following among Metro Manila residents for its own unique traditional pan de sal recipe. It sells a wide range of bread products in all of its stores, and also offers cake, bread spreads, taho and ice cream in selected stores. Post-acquisition, Balai Pandesal will be more capable to aggressively challenge the high-quality pan de sal and specialty breads market. Further, Fruitas’ existing product lines will fit smoothly and effectively into Balai Pandesal stores.

Under the agreement, a subsidiary of Fruitas will acquire the trademark, recipes and other technical know-how, certain equipment and inventory from Balai Pandesal. Expected to be completed no later than end of June 2021, the transaction is subject to execution of definitive agreements and financial closing.

At the time of acquisition, Fruitas will have five franchised Balai Pandesal stores, which are all located in Metro Manila. Fruitas has already identified several strategic locations and is set to expand the Balai Pandesal store network to at least 20 within 2021. Fruitas’ near-term goal is to open up to 100 Balai Pandesal stores, placed in high-density residential communities.

Fruitas intends to sell a variety of its other food and beverage products in Balai Pandesal stores as more locations are opened. This will complement Fruitas’ earlier announced initiative to increase its network of community stores, carrying the Babot’s Farm and Soy & Bean brands, to 100 by end of 2021.

Earlier this month, the number of operating Fruitas community stores crossed 50. Fruitas most recently opened community stores in Meycauayan, Bulacan, Marikina, and Las Piñas. Fruitas continues to expand the breadth of products available in its community stores, including offering fresh Guimaras mangoes on a limited-time basis.

“We have proven our ability to successfully integrate relatively small acquisitions and build them into significant revenue and profit contributors like Jamaican Pattie, Sabroso Lechon, and Soy & Bean. We are excited about the prospects for “Balai” as pan de sal is another Filipino daily diet staple that we want to supply and increase our market penetration. This will help us continue to pivot our business and increase our store network presence in local communities. The performance of our community stores has exhibited more resilience and growth beyond our initial expectations,” said Mr. Lester Yu, Fruitas Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer.