Despegar Acquisition of Best Day, Nestlé Upgrades MX Facilities & More Sales Leads LatAm
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- Best Day
Despegar.com, Corp., one of the the leading online travel companies in Latin America, announced it has agreed to acquire Best Day Travel Group (“Best Day”) one of the leading travel agencies in Mexico, for a total consideration of approximately US$136 million. Despegar Acquisition of Best Day is subjected to the occurrence of certain closing and business conditions.A portion of the purchase price is payable on a deferred basis and includes a variable component of up to circa +/- 10% of the total consideration, based on future performance. According to Best Day, during 2019 the company recorded estimated unaudited pro forma revenues and EBITDA of approximately US$140 million and US$8 million, respectively, with online sales accounting for approximately 70% of total sales. Approximately 75% of its revenue is generated in Mexico. The remaining revenue is generated mainly in Brazil, Argentina, U.S. and Canada, among others. Packages, Hotels and Other Travel Products account for approximately 95% of its revenues. Despegar Acquisition of Best Day wont affect brands and network of kiosks as well as key executives. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place during the first half of 2020.
- Nestlé
Food giant Nestlé has spend US$700m upgrading its facilities in Mexico. The Switzerland-based business said it will use the money to to modernise the 17 factories it operates in Mexico with “state-of-the-art technology” to increase productivity, streamline processes, and expand their productive capacity. It will also accelerate its work on innovation and the development of healthy products to meet the nutritional needs of Mexican consumers.The upgrading work and innovation commitment will generate more than 400 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs in Mexico in the next few years. Nestlé has operated in Mexico for 90 years and recently invested in Mexico-based venture capital firm Angel Ventures in order to boost the growth of food, beverage, and pet care start-ups in Latin America.
- Hasbro
WPP’s MediaCom is now the global media agency for Hasbro. MediaCom will now handle all of Hasbro’s media duties after taking the U.S. account away from Omnicom Media Group’s OMD. MediaCom will now handle all the brands under Hasbro in all the markets it has a presence in. Brands under Hasbro include MARVEL, Power Rangers, Transformers, PlayDoh, My Little Pony, Star Wars, Sesame Street, Trolls and more. Prior to the consolidation, OMD held the Hasbro account for 15 international markets including APAC and Europe, while MediaCom was overseeing Latin America. The WPP shop, which looks after the brand’s media in other markets including China and Latam, wooed Hasbro with a consolidation deal, according to people with knowledge of the matter. MG has held the account since 2013. Global media spend for the brand is around $210 million, according to COMevrgence. A spokesperson for Hasbro said: “We’ve made the decision to consolidate media buying for Hasbro under a single agency in order to both drive efficiencies and to provide the best tools and resources for our current collective needs across our global business.”After a thorough review of the agency landscape and our current partnerships, moving forward, all of our global markets will be resourced exclusively through GroupM.”
- Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. announced it signed a record number of rooms in 2019, pushing its global pipeline to approximately 515,000 rooms as of year-end 2019 for the first time in the company’s history. The company signed 815 agreements, representing more than 136,000 rooms, marking the seventh consecutive year of record-breaking volume of organic rooms signings. Growth was fueled by unprecedented levels of organic rooms signed in each of the company’s international regions. During 2019, the company added 516 properties with more than 78,000 rooms in 60 countries and territories – an average of one new property every 17 hours.At the end of 2019, Marriott International’s worldwide system consisted of more than 7,300 properties and roughly 1.38 million rooms in 134 countries and territories. More than half of the company’s record global development pipeline is located outside North America.
- Aveda
Aveda Corporation, an American cosmetics company founded by Horst Rechelbacher, now owned by Estée Lauder Companies, has landed in South America with the opening of a sustainable salon in Brazil, according to a report published by WWD. The eco-friendly hair care brand has partnered with local firm Laces to open the Sao Paolo space. The brand also launched on Brazilian e-commerce site Slow Beauty at the close of 2019.Aveda’s natural positioning will fit well in Brazil, the birthplace of fellow naturals brands such as Natura. The launch is part of Lauder’s wider strategy to grow the Aveda brand. “We aim to be leaders in the prestige segment [in Brazil],” Daniel Rachmanis, President, Latin America The Estee Lauder Companies, told WWD.
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- Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson has appointed agency R/GA Buenos Aires as its´ new communication partner for the Southern Cone. R / GA will be in charge of the communication strategy for the Femme Care category and the Neutrogena and Listerine brands in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
- Like K-pop
Like K-pop, instant ramen from South Korea, builds second US plant with eye to Latin America. Nongshim, purveyor of the spicy Shin Ramyun brand, has decided to build a second factory in the U.S, while rival Samyang Foods increases production at home to sell more of its fiery noodles in China and Southeast Asia.South Koreans are the world’s most voracious eaters of instant ramen. But as the domestic market for ramen becomes saturated owing to a declining birthrate, South Korean noodle makers have expanded overseas. Nongshim will begin construction on a second U.S. plant which will “have an important role in capturing markets in Latin America,” the company said. The brand aims to double sales to US$600 million by 2025 in North and South America.
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