Ministop, a Japanese convenience store chain, exits the Philippines and South Korea to focus on its home market. According to a report in Nikkei Asia, the business will sell a 40% ownership in Robinsons Convenience Stores, Inc. (RCSI) to Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI). RCSI is a joint venture between RRHI, the Gokongwei family’s retail arm, and Japan’s Ministop Co. Ltd. In total, RCSI runs 460 Ministop sites across the country.
As a result, Gokongwei’s Robinsons Group will now have complete ownership of the country’s Ministop company.
Ministop, Japan’s fourth-largest convenience store brand after 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson debuted in the Philippines in 2001 to install the first Ministop at Quezon City’s EDSA Central MRT station. RCSI was a joint venture between Robinsons Retail Group and the Mitsubishi Group of Japan at the time. Mitsubishi sold a large amount of its stock in the JV to Ministop’s parent company until 2018, when it sold its remaining 12-percent ownership to Robinsons and Ministop Co. Ltd.
The deal’s particular terms have not yet been revealed.
Meanwhile, according to the Nikkei Asia article, Ministop would sell its company in South Korea to local conglomerate Lotte for roughly $267 million. Its existence in that market is effectively ended as a result of this. Ministop is South Korea’s fifth-largest convenience store chain.