JFC said it will spend $99 million for the 40 percent equity share of Smashburger, making the transaction its largest acquisition to date, and its largest investment outside the Philippines.
Smashburger, which has 339 restaurants worldwide, estimates system wide sales of approximately $339 million in 2015.
JFC said the purchase will be financed partly from its cash reserves and partly from a 10-year bank borrowing. The deal is expected to be completed within the year.
“This acquisition will make JFC’s presence in the US more significant, going beyond the Filipino market and serving mainstream consumers in the $100 billion US burger market, a food segment which is estimated to be almost three times larger than the pizza, sandwich or coffee segment in terms of sales. This acquisition will make the US one of JFC’s most important markets and drivers of long term growth along with the Philippines, China and the Filipino markets abroad,” JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
JFC currently owns and operates 87 restaurants in the US, 32 of which are Jollibee units, 33 Red Ribbon stores, 19 Chowking stores, and 3 Jinja outlets.
Its system wide sales in the US account for 5 percent of worldwide system wide sales.
In the Philippines, JFC is the largest food service network with a total of 2,834 outlets as of August 31, 2015.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
