JAKA expands into Manado

JAKA expands into Manado

MANILA (AFP): JAKA Group said yesterday it is expanding into Southeast Asia with a Sabah match factory and a dessicated coconut joint venture in Manado, North Sulawesi, as its first projects.

JAKA has infused equity into the Malaysian firm Sabah Match Manufacturing Bhd. in exchange for whole management control by the Filipino group, said Tony Cruz, the group's match division comptroller. He gave no other details of the deal.

JAKA, the investment and management concern of former Philippine defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, also entered into a joint venture with an undisclosed Indonesian firm for dessicated coconut, said JAKA president Nora Bitong.

She said the company was "seeking investment opportunities in neighboring countries in areas where the group enjoys technical superiority such as match manufacturing and dessicated coconut production."