Jardine mulls restaurant business sale

Jardine Matheson, which operates Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut in Hong Kong, and owns stakes in Maxim's Caterers, is considering selling its local food and beverage business, Bloomberg reported.

The Singapore-traded conglomerate is weighing a sale of Jardine Restaurant Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary that operates KFC and Pizza Hut franchises in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Vietnam, sources said.

The subsidiary also runs Pizza Hut restaurants in Myanmar, according to its website.

Jardine also holds a half stake in food giant Maxim's through its subsidiary DFI Retail Group, also known as Dairy Farm International.

DFI Retail owns Wellcome Supermarkets, personal care product chain Mannings, and runs the world's biggest furniture retailer IKEA and convenience stores 7-Eleven in Hong Kong.

Jardine Matheson has held preliminary discussions with advisers, they said, adding that deliberations are still at an early stage and the group could decide to keep the business. Jardine Restaurant Group operates over 900 restaurants in Asia and has more than 27,000 employees, the website shows.

The unit contributed US$18 million (HK$140.4 million) profit to Jardine Group in the six months ended in June last year, compared with US$15 million in 2020, Jardine Matheson's half-yearly earnings announcement shows.

Jardine Matheson is also exploring options including a sale of its roughly 28 percent stake in Greatview Aseptic Packaging (0468) amid interest from potential investors, sources said.

The conglomerate is working with JPMorgan Chase on a strategic review for its shares in Beijing-based Greatview, and other options could include a broader strategic partnership, which may help boost synergies in areas such as sourcing of raw materials, they said.

Greatview makes packaging for dairy, juice, and beverage producers in more than 50 countries, according to its website.

Its headquarters are located both in China and Switzerland and have production facilities in China and Germany.