Who can get the chicken? US$400 million is reasonable and Uni-President Group has sufficient cash

Jardine Matheson Holdings has sold off its KFC and Pizza Hut franchise rights in Asia, with the price rumored to be about US$400 million (approximately NT$12.7 billion). If the market evaluates the value of mergers and acquisitions in the fast food chain industry (QSR), the most indicative "enterprise value multiple (EV/EBITDA)" is within a reasonable range; and based on the unified enterprise consolidated statement, the cash and equivalent cash on the account exceed 100 billion yuan, and the operating cash flow is stable, even if the acquisition is not financed, there is no pressure to pay for it out of pocket.

Comprehensive foreign reports indicate that Jardine Catering Group currently operates approximately 1,000 stores in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam and Myanmar. The annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of the overall business is approximately between US$35 million and US$40 million. If the valuation of US$400 million is used as the numerator, the enterprise value multiple is approximately 10 times to 11.4 times.

According to cross-border franchise transactions in recent years, EV/EBITDA multiples are usually between 8 times and 12 times; Jardine Matheson proposed a valuation of 10 to 11 times, which is in line with the standard pricing of the current catering M&A market and does not cover overly exaggerated brand premiums. This is why earlier this year, including the private equity fund Carlyle Group and Yum China, which holds the rights to operate in China, actively conducted preliminary evaluations.

For Uni-President Group, funding is definitely not a problem. According to the financial report of Uni-President Supermarket in the third quarter of 2026, the cash and cash equivalents on the books reached 47.6 billion yuan, and the ending cash and cash equivalents in the parent company Uni-President's consolidated financial report reached 109.2 billion yuan. Spending 12.7 billion yuan to buy an asset that can immediately bring cash flow and produce huge synergies with its own food supply chain and logistics system is a cost-effective strategic investment.