Jollibee pours money into Tim Ho Wan holding firm to serve Chinese cuisine to the world

Jollibee Foods Corporation has increased the fund size of Titan Dining (Titan) which owns the Tim Ho Wan brand and company-owned Tim Ho Wan stores to strengthen its portfolio to serve Chinese cuisine in different parts of the world. The company said its wholly owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte Limited (JWPL) had announced amendments to the Limited Partnership Agreement for Titan Dining, increasing the fund size of Titan from its current SG$200 million to SG$250 million to fund working capital requirements of Tim Ho Wan as well as facilitate the completion of other projects.

Titan will also have additional investors, who will be taking up a 10% participating interest in the firm. With the increase in fund size and entry of additional investors, JWPL’s commitment to the fund amounts to SG$225 million comprising 90% of the increased fund size and total commitments.

Previously, JFC invested SG$45 million in Titan in May 2018 to own a 45% participating interest in Titan, the master franchisee of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific region. JFC once stated that it would have the opportunity to acquire substantial ownership of Tim Ho Wan’s master franchisee in the Asia Pacific region through a purchase mechanism provided for in the investment agreement.

JFC said it is planning to aggressively expand Tim Ho Wan in mainland China with a target of reaching 100 restaurant outlets within the next four years. Currently, Tim Ho Wan operates a total of 53 outlets in Asia, mostly franchised stores with the largest concentration in Singapore and Taiwan with 12 stores respectively, seven stores in the Philippines, and six stores in Hong Kong.

JFC is operating five brands serving Chinese cuisine, including fast casual brand Chowking with a total of 608 stores worldwide presence but mostly in the Philippines; Yonghe King, a Taiwanese restaurant chain in China with 373 stores; Hong Zhuang Yuan, a full-service restaurant chain in Beijing with 39 stores; Panda Express in the Philippines with three stores in total, as well as three Tim Ho Wan stores in Shanghai, China.

In August, JFC bought the shares of the remaining partners in the fund that owns the Tim Ho Wan brand. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide, which already owns an 85% participating interest in the fund will pay SG$71.56 million to purchase the remaining 15% interests of other investors in Titan Dining, the company said in a filing on the Philippines Stock Exchange. JFC invested SG$45 million in Titan in May 2018 to own a 45% participating interest in Titan Dining which was the master franchisee of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific region. JFC said previously that by investing in the fund, it would have the opportunity to acquire substantial ownership of Tim Ho Wan's master franchise in Asia Pacific through a purchase mechanism provided for in the investment agreement.

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