MYANMAR Golden Star (MGS), one of the country’s leading business conglomerates, was founded in 1989 by U Thein Tun, a car garage owner from Magwe Division.

The company stepped into the limelight soon after it established a business venture with the US soft drink giant Pepsi in the same year.

Its US$60,000 investment in the Pepsi venture proved to be a good augury for the future success of MGS, and it also earned a new nickname for the company’s boss, who since then has been better known as ‘Pepsi’ Thein Tun.

During its 16 years of business operations, the family-owned MGS has expanded by starting a number of new ventures, ranging from timber trading to real estate, from car trading to banking, with possible investments amounting to hundreds of million of dollars.

Following the establishment of MGS Beverage, the first branch of the company, the conglomerate opened 12 additional businesses from 1992 to 2000.

Even after Pepsi withdrew from Myanmar in 1997, MGS has maintained its status as one of the leading manufacturers of soft drinks in the country. It produces Star, Crusher and Quench soft drinks.

U Thein Tun’s eldest son, U Thant Zin Tun, told Myanmar Times that MGS Beverage has remained the primary business activity of the company, and that it holds a 40 per cent share of the market among the three main domestic manufacturers of carbonated drinks.

He said that maintaining the quality of its soft drinks to stay on par with Pepsi’s products has been a huge challenge that the company has faced with great success.

One need only look at the ever-increasing demand for MGS-produced soft drinks for proof of the truth of this claim, said U Thant Zin Tun.

He said that in 2004 the company produced 98 million bottles of soft drinks, and was slated to increase its production to 120 million bottles this year.

U Thant Zin Tun said MGS was planning to begin manufacturing liquor in the next few months.

MGS employs more than 2000 workers in its 16 branches across the country, U Thant Zin Tun said.