Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) on Tuesday said it has started the tender offer for its Singapore-listed, $600-million guaranteed senior perpetual securities it issued in January 2020.
The announcement of the tender offer, which started on October 5 and will last through November 3 at 4 p.m. London time, was made by the company’s unit Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL) at the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.
The said tender offer is conditioned on the settlement and listing of up to 12 million cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible, redeemable, peso-denominated perpetual preferred shares concurrently being offered by Jollibee at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
A portion of the proceeds of about P12 billion, will be used to partially buyback the said Singapore-listed securities, which Jollibee’s parent firm will extend to JWPL to partially fund the tender offer.
“Once the issuance of the preferred shares and the partial buyback of the guaranteed senior perpetual capital securities are completed along with other actions related to financing and financial management, by December 2021, JFC expects to have fewer debt obligations, more distributed financial maturities over the next few years, lower foreign exchange risks and better leverage and debt servicing ratios,” the company said.
“All these actions will support JFC in maintaining its capability to finance its profitable growth, which is forecast to accelerate in the next few months and years, as the JFC Group plans to accelerate its worldwide store expansion in 2022 and onward.”
Jollibee’s flagship brand, meanwhile, is crossing over from mainly Filipino diners to local consumers across Europe, the Middle East and Asia with 11 new stores in the first half and more openings pipelined for the next few months.
“As many parts of the world continue opening up, especially in the Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia Region, consumers look for new and unique moments to bond with their family and friends. We’re glad that consumers in these markets have warmly welcomed Jollibee,” said Dennis Flores, president of Jollibee for Europe, Middle East, Australia and Asia.
“We are also delighted to see that the love for Jollibee and our world-famous Chickenjoy has no borders as more and more local customers patronize our products. Jollibee hopes to continue bringing more people from all walks of life to bond over our great tasting food at superb value for money.”
Jollibee opened two new branches in the United Kingdom, in the center of Reading on Broad Street and in Leeds. It also recently opened its first store in Madrid, Spain to thousands of customers waiting in line during opening day.
The company plans to open 50 stores in Europe in the next five years, focusing on UK, Italy and Spain.
In the Middle East, Jollibee opened new restaurants at the Villaggio Mall and City Center Mall, both in Doha, Qatar and also at the Riyadh Gallery Mall in Saudi Arabia.
In Jollibee Riyadh Gallery Mall, locals comprised a quarter of customers on opening day and grew to almost half of customers on its second day.
For its expansion plans in East Asia, Jollibee opened two new stores in Hong Kong through its franchisee. One is in Causeway Bay, the second most expensive shopping street in the world; and the other is in Wanchai Road, a popular district with over 600,000 workers, shoppers, and commuters.