Jollibee Foods to take over Tim Ho Wan

Home-grown fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) on Wednesday announced it is buying out the remaining interests of investors in the master franchise holder of Michelin-starred restaurant chain Tim Ho Wan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said it will buy the shares of the remaining partners in Titan Dining LP—a private equity fund which ultimately owns the Tim Ho Wan brand and company-owned Tim Ho Wan stores—through its wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL).

JWPL already owns 85% participating interest in Titan Dining.

JFC said JWPL will purchase the remaining 15% interest of other investors in Titan Dining for SGD71.56 million.

The transaction will effectively increase JFC’s interest in Titan Dining to 100%.

In May 2018, JFC disclosed that it shall invest up to SGD45 million in Titan Dining, representing 45% of the fund, which had a fund size of SGD100 million at that date of disclosure.

The company said that it would have the opportunity to acquire a substantial ownership of Tim Ho Wan’s master franchise in the Asia Pacific region through a purchase mechanism provided for in the investment agreement.

To prepare for this eventuality, JFC would open a franchise operation of Tim Ho Wan in Shanghai, China.

Then in October 2019, JFC announced that JWPL’s capital commitment to Titan increased from SGD45 million to SGD120 million, its participating interest increased to 60% and the fund size of Titan increased from SGD100 million to SGD200 million.

In October 2020, JFC’s participating interest in the Titan fund increased further from 60% to 85% after JWPL purchased the 25% participating interest of another investor in the fund for a total consideration of SGD36.3 million.

In September 2020, JFC through a joint venture with Titan Dining opened a Tim Ho Wan restaurant in Shanghai, the first THW outlet in Mainland China.

The joint venture now has three Tim Ho Wan outlets in Shanghai with the latest opened only in July 2021, according to JFC.

The company said it plans to aggressively expand Tim Ho Wan in Mainland China with a target of reaching 100 restaurant outlets within the next four years.

Tim Ho Wan operates a total of 53 outlets in Asia, mostly franchised stores with the largest concentration in four countries, namely Singapore with 12 stores, Taiwan with 12, Philippines with seven, and Hong Kong with six stores.

JFC said it aims to build as an important part of its portfolio a significant business serving Chinese cuisine in different parts of the world.

Currently, JFC has five brands serving Chinese cuisine, namely Chowking, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Panda Express, and Tim Ho Wan.—AOL, GMA News