Uni-President and Yahoo Joint Venture Gets Green Light

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a strategic partnership between Taiwanese food conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) and Hong Kong-based Yahoo Taiwan Holdings Ltd (雅虎資訊), Uni-President said in a statement on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Uni-President will take an 80 percent stake in Yahoo’s e-commerce business in Taiwan, the company said.

Yahoo will retain the remaining 20 percent stake in the $100 million e-commerce joint venture, which will continue to use the Yahoo Taiwan e-commerce brand, the statement said.

Photo: CNA

The company’s statements come after the Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday that it would not ban the deal, citing Section 13 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).

In February, Uni-President announced that its subsidiary Cayman President Holdings Ltd spent $25 million to acquire Yahoo Taiwan corporate bonds.

The company said it has been offering a wide range of products on Yahoo’s e-commerce platform for many years, and the two parties have established a close business relationship.

Uni-President Chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) recently said the food giant had sales of NT$580 billion (US$17.8 billion) last year, mostly from brick-and-mortar stores, with only 0.5 percent of sales coming from online stores.

This shows that the e-commerce sector still has a lot of room to grow, Lo said, adding that the company decided to work with Yahoo to better understand how e-commerce works.

Pete Wong (黃吉樂), CEO of Yahoo Asia, said the joint venture aims to expand into new markets by leveraging Yahoo’s expertise in big data and digital operations, and building on Uni-President’s success in delivering comprehensive consumer services through everyday essentials.