MANILA, Philippines – Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. is buying out its partner in a food manufacturing venture that services the requirements of Chinese fastfood operator Yonghe King.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said its wholly unit Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. entered into an agreement to acquire Hua Xia Harvest Holdings Pte. Ltd.’s 30 percent stake in Happy Bee Foods Processing Pte. Ltd. for $10.4 million.
The acquisition brings the JFC Group’s total shareholdings in Happy Bee to 100 percent.
JFC said the acquisition would be paid in the form of assets related to the production of food products intended for institutions outside of JFC brands in China.
Happy Bee operates a manufacturing facility in Anhui, China that currently services the requirements of JFC’s Yonghe King business, and produces and sells food products for business institutions other than JFC’s brands.
The acquisition is in line with JFC’s efforts to support the growth of its Yonghe King business and further improve its food quality.
“Yonghe King plans to accelerate its store network growth in 2016 and in the years ahead,” JFC said.
It is JFC’s largest business in China, accounting for 10 percent of the group’s systemwide sales worldwide. It has 321 stores.
At present, JFC operates 20 commissaries across the world, of which 13 are in the country, three in China, three in the US and one in Vietnam.
The group’s strategy is that it builds and operates its own commissaries to supply food products to its restaurants with the aim of achieving superiority in product quality and a very high level of assurance in food safety.
In the Philippines, it had 2,475 restaurants as of the end of 2015. Of the total, 916 comprised Jollibee restaurants, 439 Chowking outlets, 231 Greenwich stores, 374 Red Ribbon branches, 459 Mang Inasal stores and 56 Burger King stores.
Overseas, JFC operates 642 stores.