Korea’s SPC Samlip, Siam Makro to tie up for Thai bakery business

SPC Samlip Corp., a unit of South Korea’s food and bakery giant SPC Group, said on Monday it has forged a business partnership with Siam Makro Plc, a subsidiary of Thailand’s largest conglomerate CP Group, to jointly enter the Southeast Asian country’s bakery market.

Under the deal, which marks SPC Samlip’s first partnership with a local partner for overseas expansion, the Korean company will launch a joint venture for the production and distribution of bakery products in Thailand.

SPC Samlip will run in-store bakeries within the distribution channels operated by Siam Makro in Thailand and neighboring countries. The Korean company said it also plans to provide Siam Makro with bakery business know-how such as product development, operation processes and quality control.

Siam Makro, the operator of some 150 Makro cash and carry warehouse-type stores and 2,500 Lotus hypermarkets across Thailand, posted about 17.6 trillion won ($13.6 billion) in sales revenue last year.

The Thai franchise operator also runs Makro stores in Cambodia, India and China and is engaged in the premium food distribution and export business in Asia.

TO EXPAND COOPERATION INTO BIOTECH, INFOTECH

SPC Group is the operator of Korea’s largest bakery chain Paris Baguette as well as Paris Croissant, SPL, Dunkin and SPC GFS.

SPC made its foray into the global market by opening up a Paris Baguette outlet in Shanghai in 2004.

The bakery group entered the Southeast Asian market in 2012 with an outlet in Vietnam. It is currently present in a number of markets, including Singapore, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Globally, SPC Group operates more than 450 Paris Baguette and Shake Shack outlets in six countries. In 2018, the group obtained the rights to operate the American burger chain Shake Shack’s shops in Singapore and Korea.

SPC Samlip said it plans to expand its partnership with Thailand’s CP Group into the biotechnology and information technology sectors.

SPC VP HEO HEE-SOO EMBARKS ON OVERSEAS PROJECTS

SPC Group’s overseas business has been led by Heo Jin-soo, president and the eldest son of group Chairman Heo Young-in.

The president has spearheaded the group’s expansion of its businesses overseas, including taking the Paris Baguette brand to the US, Europe and Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Heo Hee-soo, the group’s vice president and the chairman’s second son, has primarily been in charge of bringing overseas businesses into Korea in partnership with foreign brands such as Shake Shack and Eggslut, a gourmet food chain.

He is also behind SPC Group’s exclusive contracts with global food company Kraft Heinz and US strained yogurt brand Chobani in Korea.

Industry watchers said that with the SPC Samlip-Siam Makro partnership, Heo Hee-soo now also appears to be embarking on the group’s overseas expansion efforts.

Write to Jiyoon Yang at yang@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.