And its game time! Thai Beverage has just bought ~240 KFC stores from Yum Brands, which means they immediately surpass the 200 stores that are run by Central Group.

Quick thoughts:

• THBEV is desperate for growth and they’ve been doing a decent job at leveraging their balance sheet to do so as seen with the purchase of F&N and now these KFC restaurants
• It’s fairly obvious that Yum is on as an asset lightening approach, shedding these stores in exchange for a hefty franchise fee is a smart move and so is ensuring that CENTEL does not have too much bargaining power
• What does this mean for CENTEL? Expansion could be expensive going up against a group like THBEV and these franchise owners are not known for being sweet in franchisee’s missing growth targets

ThaiBev agreed to purchase more than 240 existing KFC restaurants in Thailand for about 11.3 billion Thai baht ($340 million). A deal is also in place for the company to take over stores that are being developed, with the cost of those locations to be determined when the transaction closes, according to a filing. KFC is operated by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands Inc., which also runs the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut chains.

Source: Bloomberg