China Investment Corp (中國投資) is backing a potential takeover of Yum China Holdings Inc (百勝中國), which runs KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in the world’s most populous nation, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The sovereign fund and DCP Capital, an investment firm run by former KKR & Co senior executives, are part of a consortium with Hillhouse Capital Group that was considering a buyout of Yum China, the people said.
Baring Private Equity Asia has also joined the investor group, which already includes KKR, said the people, who asked for anonymity.
Yum China shares have fallen 14.5 percent this year, giving it a market value of US$13.1 billion in New York.
The consortium was considering taking Yum China private, with an eye to potentially relisting the business in Hong Kong at a later date, one of the people said.
A takeover of the company, which was spun off from Yum Brands Inc in 2016, would be the biggest-ever Chinese takeover of a consumer firm, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Private equity firm Primavera Capital, which owned 4.3 percent of Yum China as of June, has been weighing options for its stake in the company and could consider joining a bidding group, the people said.
No final decisions have been made and the makeup of the investment group could still change, the people added.
DCP Capital was started last year by buyout veterans including David Liu (劉海峰), the former China head and cohead of Asia private equity at KKR.
In May, it agreed to invest in Venus Medtech (杭州?明醫療), a Hangzhou, China-based developer of heart valve replacements that is backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Yum China operates the country’s biggest network of fast-food restaurants, with about 8,200 outlets spread across more than 1,200 cities at the end of June, its latest results showed.
It has struggled to attract younger Chinese diners to its Pizza Hut restaurants in the face of increasing local competition and changing eating habits that favor healthier fare.
The potential takeover comes as an escalating trade war fuels speculation that China could turn to consumer boycotts as part of its pushback against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
RECRUITMENT: The latest hiring drive — for fabs in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan — aims to catch up with growth in the company and new technology development Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday unveiled a plan to hire 9,000 people this year in the latest round of recruitment as the chipmaker races to boost capacity to alleviate a chip crunch and safeguard its technology advantage. TSMC’s talent recruitment this year might be the most ambitious in its history, while last year’s drive of 8,000 added recruits doubled the 4,000 new hires that it averaged over the preceding few years. The latest drive — for fabs in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan — aims to catch up with growth in the company and new technology development, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said. The
CHASING AFTER THE US: China is scrambling to cut its dependence on the West for crucial components such as computer chips, an issue that has become more urgent China pledged to boost spending and drive research into cutting-edge chips and artificial intelligence (AI) in its latest five-year targets, laying out a technological blueprint to vie for global influence with the US. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) singled out key areas in which to achieve “major breakthroughs in core technologies,” including high-end semiconductors, operating systems, computer processors and cloud computing — areas in which US firms now hold sway. Beijing would also aim to get 56 percent of the country on faster 5G networks. Nationwide research and development spending is to increase by more than 7 percent annually, which “is expected to
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 supplier of silicon wafers, yesterday said that it has acquired a 70.27 percent stake in German competitor Siltronic AG, in a public bid that ended four days ago. With the acquisition of a controlling stake in Siltronic, the Taiwanese company is to become the world’s second-largest silicon wafer supplier. Last month, GlobalWafers secured more than 50 percent of Siltronic shares with an offer of 4.35 billion euros (US$5.2 billion) in a public tender that was due to end on Feb. 10, but the acceptance period was extended until Monday. In a statement released yesterday, the Hsinchu-based
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) largest customer accounted for 25 percent of its total revenue last year. Analysts believe the unnamed company to be Apple Inc. The world’s largest contract chipmaker generated NT$336.78 billion (US$11.9 billion) in consolidated sales from its largest customer last year, accounting for about 25 percent of the total, financial data provided by TSMC showed. With TSMC believed to be the sole processor supplier for Apple’s iPhone 12, analysts said the largest customer is likely the US consumer electronics giant, which drove the chipmaker’s sales growth. TSMC did not identify the customer. TSMC last year posted
RSS