Jollibee Foods Corporation buys Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for US$350m
This is the company’s largest multinational acquisition to date.
Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) announced its acquisition of American specialty coffee and tea brand The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) for US$350 million, its biggest multinational acquisition to date.
In an announcement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippine fast food giant says the total consideration for the deal is US$350 million on a debt-free basis but its net investment is estimated at US$100 million.
JFC, through Singapore-based subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte Ltd., will initially finance the entire acquisition through a bridge loan.
The US$100 million investment represents 80% of the holding company’s equity with the balance of $250 million to be made as advances. The holding company plans to issue within six to nine months preferred shares of at least US$250 million, which will be used to repay the advances.
“The acquisition of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf brand will be JFC’s largest and most multinational so far with business presence in 27 countries. This will add 14 percent to its global system wide sales, 26 percent to its total store network, will bring international business’ contribution to 36 percent of worldwide sales,” Jollibee chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said.
According to JFC, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand has 1,189 outlets as of December 2018. The company portfolio includes Smashburger and Tortas Frontera in North America, Highlands Coffee and Pho24 in Vietnam, and Dunkin’ Donuts in select territories in China. In the Philippines, it owns the franchise of Burger King, pizza chain Greenwich, Chinese-style fast-food chain Chowking, Red Ribbon, and soon-to-arrive Panda Express.
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Photo credit: Jollibee Facebook
