Famous Brands CEO Kevin Hedderwick said the deal "catapults (the group) to a completely different level" in Nigeria, where it has been trading for 11 years through master license and franchise agreements.
Famous Brands is buying 49% of UAC Restaurants, the wholly owned subsidiary of diversified conglomerate UAC of Nigeria that houses Mr Bigg's.
Mr Bigg's is the largest food franchise brand in Africa, north of South Africa.
UAC Restaurants has 165 franchised restaurants across Nigeria — 57 of them in Lagos and 14 in Abuja. Forty-five percent of the company's franchised restaurants and 40% of its revenue is concentrated in Nigeria's three key commercial centres.
UAC Restaurants also has a small logistics and manufacturing component.
Famous Brands said the deal, which takes effect on October 1, would be financed from its reserves. It did not disclose the value of the deal.
The deal "underlines our ambitious and deliberate plans to grow our business outside South Africa", Mr Hedderwick said.
"Trading in Africa is inevitably about being first to market and we believe this transaction represents a significant step-change through which we will further entrench our leadership position within the branded food service industry in Africa."
Mr Hedderwick said Mr Bigg's had an extensive on-the-ground presence and huge loyal customer base, demonstrated by the 100,000 consumers who visit the brand's restaurants daily.
Mr Bigg's quick-service restaurants are at high foot-fall sites. It sells pastries, snacks, burgers and hot meals, with about 25,000 pieces of chicken sold daily.
"Our immediate goal is to bed down this joint venture and optimise on the evident success of the existing operation and its enormous potential within the Nigerian market," Mr Hedderwick said.
Famous Brands' other brands include Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs Pizza, Mugg & Bean, FishAways, Milky Lane, Juicy Lucy, O'Hagan's, Keg, Europa and Fego Caffe.
*Must we South Africanize everything in this country??*
0 comments: