RFM Corporation () is a publicly listed food and beverage company in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. RFM is a manufacturer of flour and flour-based products, milk, juice drinks, and ice cream. As of June 2013, RFM had an asset base of P12 billion and a total market capitalization of P17.1 billion.

History

Its founders included Salvador Z. Araneta, José N. Concepcion, Sr., B.J. Server, Albino Z. SyCip, Zoilo Alberto, Francisco D. Gamboa, Edward Miller Grimm, Leonardo Eugenio, David SyCip and Charles "Chick" Parsons. In 1973, RFM entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with

Swift & Company JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is a meat processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian multinational JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company. JBS USA is bas ...

to use the brand "Swift" for its meat processing business (in 1987, RFM purchased ownership rights for its exclusive use in the Philippines). For the next 15 years, RFM concentrated on growing its established core businesses and also introduced other grocery products, such as cake mixes, hotcake mixes, and ingredient mixes. As it entered the 1990s, RFM began acquiring of a number of local companies and established partnerships with foreign companies. In 1994, RFM divested its interest in hog operations and the poultry operations became known as Swift Foods Inc. (SFI). In 1995, RFM Properties and Holdings, Inc. was established to consolidate RFM's real estate assets as well as break into the property development business. Between 1995 and 2000, RFM briefly ventured into noodle manufacturing, tuna processing, bakeshop business with the acquisition of the Rolling Pin trademark, food franchising (

Little Caesars Pizza Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and

Dairy Queen International Dairy Queen, Inc. (DQ) is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 and currently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first Dairy Queen was owned and operated by Sherb Noble and first opened on June 22, ...

) and thrift banking (Consumer Bank). In 1999, RFM formed a partnership with

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

(through its Philippine subsidiary) to produce Selecta ice cream under the joint-venture company, Selecta Walls Inc., (now Unilever-RFM Ice Cream Inc.). In 2001, RFM sold its soft drink subsidiary Cosmos Bottling Corporation ( "Pop Cola" brand ) to Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. (now known as Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc.). Cosmos continued to be listed in the

Philippine Stock Exchange The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (; ) is the national stock exchange of the Philippines. The exchange was created in 1992 from the merger of the Manila Stock Exchange and the Makati Stock Exchange. Including previous forms, the exchange has ...

until 2013. In 2003, RFM spun off Swift Foods Inc., which formerly operated RFM's Swift poultry business, to become a separately owned company. By the end of the first decade of the 2000s, RFM significantly reduced its holdings in Philtown Properties, Inc. after 66% of the outstanding shares were declared as property dividends in 2008 and 15% in 2009.

Recent developments

In November 2012, RFM sold its Swift processed meat business to the Pacific Meat Company, Inc. (now Century Pacific Food, Inc.) RFM said the transaction's total value could reach between P800 million and P850 million. In January 2014, RFM acquired the Royal pasta brand from

Unilever Philippines Unilever Philippines, Inc. is the Philippines, Philippine subsidiary of United Kingdom, British Multinational corporation, multinational fast-moving consumer goods, consumer goods company Unilever. It is based in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig ...

for $47.8 million (around P2.1 billion). RFM's Fiesta brand was then the top pasta brand in the Philippines, while the Royal brand came second.

Brands

Bulk flour: * Republic Special * Cinderella * Altar Bread * Milenyo * Hi-Pro Majestic * Señorita Cake mixes: * White King Pasta: * Fiesta * Royal Beverages: * Sunkist juice Refrigerated margarine: * Butterfresh Ice cream (Unilever-RFM Ice Cream Inc.): * Selecta * Selecta Cornetto * Selecta Magnum UHT Milk: * Selecta * Selecta Moo

Corporate social responsibility

RFM Foundation Inc. is the social development arm of the company. Among its notable projects are the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines and Project Pagsulong. The Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines seeks to honor students who made excellent academic performances and their contributions to society. Project Pagsulong invites young Filipinos to form a team and come up with innovative business ideas good enough to stand against proposals from other teams, as well as viable enough to provide real-life solutions for alleviating poverty.

Notes

References

External links

* {{CC-notice, cc=bysa3, url=http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=RFM_Corporation Food and drink companies of the Philippines Drink companies of the Philippines Food and drink companies established in 1957 Companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange Companies based in Mandaluyong Condiment companies of the Philippines Dairy products companies of the Philippines Baking mixes Philippine companies established in 1957 1957 establishments in the Philippines Philippine pasta companies Family-owned companies of the Philippines