Jollibee raises stake in Tim Ho Wan

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp., the Filipino-owned Asian food conglomerate, is raising further its investment in the Tim Ho Wan brand.

As disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, JFC, through its wholly owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL), will provide additional capital commitment to Titan Dining LP, the private equity fund which owns the Tim Ho Wan brand and company-owned Tim Ho Wan stores.

“The fund size of Titan will increase from its current S$350 million to S$450 million (roughly $264 million to $340 million) to fund the store expansion plans and working capital requirements of Tim Ho Wan and the completion of other projects,” JFC said.

With the increase, JWPL’s participating interest in Titan will increase to 92 percent from 90 percent through the purchase of two percent participating interest of another limited partner in the fund for a total consideration of S$7.7 million or roughly $5 million.

With the increase in fund size, JWPL’s total commitment to the fund shall amount to S$414 million or the equivalent of roughly $313 million.

These amendments are necessary to support the growth expansion of Tim Ho Wan, other brands and other future food and beverages concepts that will be part of Titan’s portfolio.

JFC invested S$45 million in Titan in May 2018 to own a 45 percent participating interest in Titan which was the master franchisee of Tim Ho Wan in Asia-Pacific. It has since raised its investment in the brand.

At present, JFC has two joint ventures with Titan for Tim Ho Wan in China, and for operations of Tiong Bahru Bakery and Common Man Coffee Roasters in the Philippines.

Tim Ho Wan has 19 restaurants in China, mostly in Shanghai.

Moving forward, JFC plans to aggressively expand Tim Ho Wan in mainland China with a target of reaching 100 restaurant outlets in the middle term.

Tim Ho Wan operates a total of 78 outlets in Asia, mostly franchised stores with the largest concentration in China, followed by Singapore and the Philippines.

JFC has a store count of 6,805 stores worldwide as of end-November, broken down as follows: Philippines (3,318) and International (3,487): 546 in China, 391 in North America, 333 in EMEA, 757 with Highlands Coffee mainly in Vietnam, 1,146 with CBTL and 314 with Milksha.

Its largest brands by store outlets worldwide are Jollibee with 1,645, CBTL 1,146, Highlands Coffee 757, Chowking 614, and Mang Inasal 571.