Jollibee adjusts acquisition price for Smashburger

MANILA, Philippines - Jollibee Foods Corp. has adjusted the acquisition price of  Colorado-headquartered casual burger brand Smashburger to $100.25 million from $99.5 million previously.

“The purchase price adjustment as validated by JFC’s accounting and tax advisor for this transaction Isla Lipana & Co./PWC was mainly attributable to higher than estimated actual level of cash of SJBF LLC, the parent company of the entities comprising the Smashburger business,” JFC said in a disclosure to securities regulators yesterday.

Smashburger is one of the fastest growing restaurant brands in the US.

The acquisition would make JFC’s presence in the US more significant, going beyond the Filipino market and serving mainstream consumers in the $100 billion burger market.

The burger segment 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 said.

Smashburger’s founder Tom Ryan said the company is looking forward to expanding in Asia through its partnership with JFC.

Under the deal, JFC has the option to purchase up to an additional 35 percent of Smashburger between 2018 and 2021 and the balance of 25 percent between 2019 at the earliest and 2026 at the latest.

Smashburger serves fresh 100 percent Certified Angus Beef burgers. It currently has 339 restaurants with sales of approximately $339 million for 2015, equivalent to 12 percent of JFC’s estimated worldwide system wide sales for the same year.

JFC, meanwhile, owns and operates 87 restaurants in the US, consisting of 32 Jollibee, 33 Red Ribbon, 19 Chowking and three Jinja. System-wide sales in the US account for five percent of the group’s worldwide sales.