VPB sells KFC franchise
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday November 20, 2015 14:57
According to a statement by Competition Authority (CA), they have received a merger notice on the proposed acquisition of the operation of KFC restaurants by South Africa’s Callus (Pty) Ltd.
“Callus will acquire the operations of the KFC franchise restaurants in Botswana, operating under the trade name KFC Botswana together with all assets related to the operation of the KFC franchise stores,” reads part of the statement.
Callus, the acquiring enterprise, is a company incorporated under the Laws of Botswana, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Country Bird Holdings (Pty) Ltd (CBH), which is a company, incorporated under the Laws of the Republic of South Africa.
In addition to its interest in Callus, CBH has a 100 percent shareholding in Ross Africa Limited, a company duly incorporated in terms of the Laws of the Republic of Seychelles.
Ross Africa Limited, in turn, has a 60 percent shareholding in Master Feeds (Pty) Ltd, a company incorporated in accordance with the Laws of Botswana.
Master Feeds has three trading divisions active in Botswana, namely: Nutri Feeds, which distributes feeds throughout Botswana, Ross Breeders Botswana, which has hatcheries in Botswana as well as Oistins, which runs an abattoir as well as broiler farm in Botswana.
Callus is therefore a shelf company, which is intended to hold all the KFC franchise stores in Botswana and has no other business activities in the country. On the other hand, VPB Propco, the target enterprise is a company incorporated under the Laws of the Republic of Botswana.
VPB trades as KFC Botswana through its three wholly owned subsidiaries: Greenax (Pty) Ltd, QSR (Pty) Ltd and Boitumelo Dijo (Pty) Ltd. Each of the subsidiaries operates its own KFC franchise restaurants.
Greenax operates Kanye, Broadhurst and Maun KFC franchise outlets; QSR operates Kasane, Molepolole and Game City franchise outlets while Boitumelo Dijo operates Gaborone Main Mall, Gaborone West, and Francistown, Somerset, Rail Park and Airport Junction KFC franchise outlets.
VPB Propco acquired the KFC franchise in 2011 with the plan to increase outlets across the country as well as create close to 100 job opportunities. At the time of acquisition, KFC Botswana embarked on a five-year expansion plan that intended to see the company broadening its operations at both commercial and community levels. In addition to increasing their outlets, they planned to start sourcing their ingredients from local farmers to empower them.
Owned by entrepreneur, Anthony Siwawa, VPB is the first dedicated professional private equity fund manager in Botswana.