New KFC owner ordered to procure locally
Pauline Dikuelo | Thursday December 17, 2015 11:56
The Authority said this during the approval of Callus’ proposed acquisition of all KFC restaurants in the country, which were previously owned by VPB Propco together with all its assets, related to operation of KFC franchise stores.
“Callus will continue sourcing from the same suppliers that were engaged by VPB and are YUM Restaurants International (Pty) Ltd accredited as well as consider sourcing from any other YUM accredited suppliers based in Botswana,” reads part of the Authority’s statement
CA also noted that Callus should demonstrate efforts made towards facilitating that local suppliers penetrate or meet YUM Restaurants International (Pty) Ltd’s standards of accreditation.
Callus is expected to annually submit to the Authority a detailed report indicating a list of its new and old Botswana-based suppliers for a period of three years.
“The Authority has conditionally approved the proposed acquisition. However, this approval does not override or negate any other mandatory statutory approvals or processes that any of the parties to this merger must comply with under the Laws of Botswana.”
Callus, the acquiring enterprise, is a company incorporated under the Laws of Botswana and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Country Bird Holdings (Pty) Ltd (CBH).
CBH is a company incorporated under the Laws of the Republic of South Africa. In addition to its interest in Callus, CBH has a 100% 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% 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.
PB 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 the 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.