Asian fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. of the family of bilyonaryo Tony Tan Caktiong, is said to be in talks to sell a minority stake in its Vietnam’s Highlands Coffee, according to Reuters.
JFC could raise around $800 million from the sale of 10 to 15 percent of the Vietnamese coffee shop chain , Reuters said.
The sale of a minority interest may also be a prelude to Highland Coffee’s planned initial public offering.
JFC initially acquired 50 percent of the SuperFood Group, which owns and operates Highlands Coffee and Pho24 restaurants, in 2012.
After being acquired by JFC a decade ago, Super Foods has stepped up the expansion of its Highlands chain across Vietnam.
Jollibee operates the largest food service network in the Philippines with a total of 3,238 stores nationwide.
As of end-September, JFC had a total of 3,113 outlets overseas, boosting its total network to 6,351 branches worldwide, It had 486 stores in China, 385 in North America, 319 in EMEAA, 592 with SuperFoods mainly in Vietnam, 1,053 with CBTL and 278 with Milksha.
Its largest brands by store outlets worldwide are Jollibee with 1,552, CBTL 1,053, Chowking 612, Mang Inasal 574 and Highlands Coffee 562.