POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage Ltd. is a corporation headquartered in Japan, which sells canned or bottled coffee, flavored tea and an assortment of other beverages. It was known as Singapore's No. 1 Jasmine Green Tea. Pokka is owned by Sapporo Holdings, Japan's fourth largest brewer by volume and makers of Yebisu and Sleeman. In September 2018, Alain Ong, the CEO of Pokka Singapore and Pokka International, was suspended following an internal audit.
History
In 1957, the company was founded as Nikka Lemon Corporation to manufacture and sell synthetic lemons, and in 1967, the Fair Trade Commission issued an exclusion order to the company for misrepresenting the use of lemon juice even though it was not used. The so-called "Pokkah Lemon Incident" occurred, which drew strong criticism from consumers. In fact, not only Pokka Lemon, but similar products were being marketed by other companies, and the exclusion order had been issued as well. In 1972, the company focused on the development and sale of Pokka Coffee, an authentic canned coffee, and in 1973, it co-developed a vending machine with Sankyo Electric that served as both a cold and hot vending machine. After much effort, they developed the world's first technology for manufacturing canned coffee that can be sold continuously heated. The company has also developed lemon tea, shiruko, and cocoa, which can be sold at higher temperatures. In 1983, they developed the world's first canned soup, which could be sold at high temperatures. It was a revolutionary soup that employed an oyster sterilizer to kill high temperature resistant bacteria. Based on the knowledge gained from the development of canned soup, the company developed and launched an instant soup in 1981. The company was listed on the First Section of the Nagoya Stock Exchange in 1985 and on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1988, and developed mainly in the vending machine business. Other than Pokka Coffee, the main product is "slow-cooked soup". In 2005, the canned coffee "aromax" was released, with Hiroshi Abe as its image character. In Okinawa Prefecture, the company's subsidiary Okinawa Pokka Corporation produces and sells its own product lineup. In addition to "Sanpincha" and "Uchincha," which are not available on the mainland, the company also produces Blue Seal ice cream chocolate drinks and other products on consignment. Following the merger with Sapporo Soft Drinks in January 2013, the company strengthened its lineup of fruit juices, carbonated drinks, and sugar-free teas, including Ribbon, Gabu Drink, and Tea with Gyokuro, in addition to the former Pokka Corporation's lineup. On the other hand, in the beverages business, the merger resulted in the consolidation of overlapping lineups, with the former Pokka Corporation products being the focus of the coffee beverage lineup and the former Sapporo beverage lineup being the focus of the unsweetened tea beverage lineup.
Capital and Management
Pokka Corporation was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the First Section of the Nagoya Stock Exchange since the 1980s, but on December 5, 2005, Pokka became a wholly owned subsidiary of Advantage Holdings, an affiliate of Advantage Partners, and delisted its shares as part of a management buyout. Later, on January 15, 2008, Meiji Seika was renamed to Meiji Seika., and the company joined the Meiji Seika group as an equity-method affiliate of the company. The following year, on September 29, 2009, the company formed a capital and business alliance with Sapporo Holdings Corporation. At this time, Sapporo HD acquired a 21.65% stake in Pokka Corporation from Advantage Holdings, and Pokka Corporation became an equity-method affiliate of Sapporo HD. In 2011, a proposal to relist Pokka suddenly surfaced, but it quickly fizzled out. In late March of the same year, Sapporo HD purchased Pokka shares from the existing shareholders to make Pokka a consolidated subsidiary, and Pokka and Sapporo announced on February 10, 2011 that the two companies would begin discussions on a management integration as part of a reorganization within the group. Sapporo Holdings acquired additional shares of Pokka Corporation, and Pokka Corporation became a consolidated subsidiary of Sapporo Holdings on March 29 of the same year. As a result, the capital alliance with the Meiji Group was terminated, but the business alliance continues. On November 29, 2013, it was announced by Sapporo HD that it planned to merge with Sapporo Soft Drinks, also under the umbrella of Sapporo HD, in January 2013 to form a new beverage and food business company, Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Co. Pokka Sapporo, a preparatory company established by Sapporo HD in March 2012 at the same address as Pokka Corporation, will absorb Pokka Corporation and Sapporo Soft Drinks as of January 1, 2013. The merger with Pokka Sapporo resulted in a triangular merger, with all Pokka Corporation shareholders except Pokka Sapporo receiving shares of Sapporo HD.
