Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Linklaters have advised on the sale of over two hundred KFC restaurants in the U.K. and Ireland.
The Issa brother-owned EG group sold off all of its 218 KFC franchise restaurants to fast food multinational, Yum! Brands, according to a statement from the group.
The statement detailed that the sale was an “additional step in the successful deleveraging strategy” that had been put in place, with the brothers adding: “We continue to make good progress against our key strategic priorities—delivering a world-class grocery and merchandise, foodservice and fuel proposition across nine markets globally.”
Linklaters advised Yum! Brands, which currently owns the KFC franchise, with the firm’s global head of corporate, Simon Branigan, and global head of real estate, Andy Bruce, leading the deal.
Skadden advised long-term clients, the Issa brothers, best known for being the owners of Asda, with co-head of the firm’s U.K. corporate practice George Knighton leading the deal. Tax partner Alex Jupp, and banking partner Clive Wells, also provided advice.
The firm advised the brothers on the £2.27 billion tie-up between EG group and Asda earlier this year, with Knighton again picking up the mantle. It also advised the billionaire pair when it first acquired Asda back in 2020 for £6.8 billion.
U.K. Top 50 firm Freeths also worked alongside Skadden, advising the EG group. Real estate partner Atiyya Khaliq led on the Freeths side.
Like Skadden, the firm had also advised on the completion of the Asda sale.
According to the Yum! Brands statement, the transaction will see all of EG’s KFC U.K. and Ireland businesses and 7,800 team join the 800,000 employees currently employed by Yum! Brands.
Commenting on the transaction, Sabir Sami, KFC Division chief executive officer, said: “The KFC business is a powerhouse for Yum! globally and the UK and Ireland is one of our strongest markets. Over the past five years, we’ve secured our leadership position within the UK and Ireland chicken market, opening 200 new restaurants, and we’re now close to being a £2 billion business in the UK, thanks to our extremely talented local management team.
“We’re pleased to add these restaurants to our equity portfolio, in a market where we are well placed to drive strong growth while also making further digital and strategic progress,” he said.
In other related food retailer news, last month multinational confectionary company Mars acquired AIM-listed British chocolate manufacturer Hotel Chocolat, with international law firms Herbert Smith Freehills and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advising on the deal.
