China Approves Sales Of Beijing Restaurant Chain To Jollibee

October 2, 2008 8:35 a.m. EST

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Philippines largest fast food conglomerate Jollibee Foods Corp., announced on Thursday that China's regulators have approved the sale of a Beijing-based chain of restaurants to the company.

In a disclosure before the Philippines Stock Exchange, the Manila, Philippines-based Jollibee Foods said that China's Ministry of Commerce has given the go ahead to its bid to acquire Hongzhuangyuan for $53.2 million, through its subsidiary, Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd.

This would be the third foreign company acquired by Jollibee.

Hongzhuangyuan, operates at least 38 restaurants in China, 31 of which are located in Beijing. The remaining seven are franchised stores operating in other cities in the region. The restaurants has an annual sales estimated at $27.7 million.

According to the company, it has already paid $36 million for its bid to Hongzhuangyuan, with the balance payable within 12 months.

Records from the PSE showed Jollibee owns at least 1,480 stores in the Philippines, broken down as follows: Jollibee, 636; Chowking, 377; Greenwich, 231; Red Ribbon, 204; Delifrance, 27 and Manong Pepe, 5.

The company has 223 stores overseas: Yonghe King in China, 123; Jollibee in the U.S., 19: Jollibee Brunei, 11; Red Ribbon in the U.S., 25: Chowking in the U.S., 14; Chowking in Dubai, 10; Chun Sui Tan in China, one and 20 other stores in the other countries for a total of 1,703 stores worldwide.