McDonald's Philippines to go public in H2 of '07

Golden Arches Development Corp., the master franchise holder of the McDonald’s fast food brand in the Philippines will be embarking on an initial public offering in the second half of 2007, the proceeds of which will go to the firm's further expansion in the local market. In a statement released to the media, Golden Arches said it will be tapping the capital market through the Philippine Stock Exchange so that it will have a wider source of funds for its operations and expansion plans. "Tapping the capital markets will provide the company a broader menu of sources of funds not only for its product development and domestic market expansion," the company said in the statement. Golden Arches said it has tapped Ernst & Young to act as financial advisor for its issue. The company said it, along with its financial advisor, has started talks with possible underwriters for its IPO. The company statement had no further details as to the size and specific timetable of the offer. Golden Arches is majority owned by the family of Chinese-Filipino entrepreneur George Yang. Part of the company is held by publicly listed Alliance Global Group Inc., the investment firm of businessman Andrew Tan. "McDonald’s Philippines... believes that going public this year would further underpin its aggressive growth strategy," the firm said. In the Philippines, McDonald's ranks second only to local fast food chain Jollibee in terms of market dominance. Jollibee is a publicly listed corporation controlled by tycoon Tony Tan-Caktiong. Jollibee also owns quick service brands Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Delifrance and China's Yonghe King. In an earlier interview with GMANews.TV, Golden Arches vice president for marketing and communications Margot Torres said the company will be opening 25 new stores to add to 255 McDonald’s restaurants in operation. Last year, Golden Arches said it was able to open 22 new McDonald’s outlets using only internally generated funds.-GMANews.TV