Two brands I like. Same company, soon? Money flowing into Malaysia, good.

On a daily basis, I drink two cups of coffee. Usually, one of it would be white coffee and another would be instant coffee with milk. Occasionally, when I am with friends, then it looks ‘classier’ to have a latte in cafes, usually Starbucks. (I prefer Coffee Bean though. 😛 )  One white coffee brand I like is definitely Old Town but my most favourite white coffee brand is actually Chek Hup White Coffee.  Both came from Ipoh, so it’s okay. For instant coffee, the brand I love the most thus far is Moccona by Jacobs Douwe Egberts. Yes, I prefer it over brands such as Nescafe, Indocafe. It’s a little more expensive but I think it’s value for money when it comes to enjoyment. Guess what, OldTown would soon be a part of Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE). HDE will be acquiring a majority stake in OldTown Berhad $361 million (RM1.472 billion). OldTown Berhad has 232 outlets, mostly in Malaysia. here’s that full article in dealstreetasia.com

I dislike companies which continues to take money from new investors and yet kept reporting losses year after year. OldTown Berhad is a profitable company and JDE too. As per the article, Lee Siew Heng, group managing director of OldTown said, “We are deeply honored that JDE recognizes the powerful brand and platform that we have tirelessly built over the past 18 years. We strongly believe JDE is the ideal partner as we continue to serve best-in-class products to our customers. We look forward to drawing on JDE’s deep global expertise and building a highly successful partnership with them.” Jacobs Douwe Egberts Holdings is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Netherland-based Jacobs Douwe Egberts B.V (JDE) which offers well-known coffee and tea brands like Jacobs, Tassimo, Moccona, Senseo, L’OR and Douwe Egberts in over 120 countries. Fabien Simon, CFO of JDE said, “The OldTown team is focused on delivering premium, high-quality products to consumers and we see huge potential in the business. We are excited to work with the OldTown team to rapidly grow the business as part of the broader JDE platform.” full article in dealstreetasia.com
Perhaps now we will see OldTown White Coffee is even more countries. How about over 50 countries from the current 17 mentioned in the article? Frankly, OldTown white coffee is a very popular souvenir of all my ex-colleagues from everywhere in ASEAN thus far. In fact, my Hawaii uncle likes it a lot and every year I would send him a few packs. Actually, the cost of sending over is far higher than the cost of those few packs. Haha. I personally think it’s important for Malaysian brands to continue its expansion into the world market. We have way too many good things to share with the world. With the money what can the shareholders of OldTown do? Actually, a lot. Perhaps even go into full fledged property developer? Haha. Just a wild guess.
In case you still do not know why Ipoh whitecoffee is called as such, here’s a simple explanation by Wiki for which I have known for quite some time. Wikipedia:  Traditionally, Malaysian style ‘black’ coffee roast (Kopi-O) is produced by roasting the beans with sugar, margarine and wheat.^[2] ‘White’ coffee, on the other hand, is produced with only margarine and without any sugar, resulting in a less dark roast. Ipoh White Coffee is also widely available in an instant version.^[1] It is sometimes consumed after dinner.^[3] The generic term ‘Ipoh white coffee’ in Chinese is “?????” commonly meaning white, has nothing to do with the colour in this instance, but is rather a reference to the way the coffee is roasted. In Chinese, Bái also means ‘without’ or ‘unadulterated’,^[4] nothing has been added to the coffee during the roasting process. Happy enjoying this success all the awesome people who has brought OldTown to this stage of growth from 1999.
written on 24 Dec 2017
Next suggested article:  The more cafes in the neighbourhood, the higher the property price?