In its largest multinational acquisition to date, Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) announced at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 24, that it will be acquiring American coffee chain, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL), in a $350 million deal.
This is the latest buy in JFC’s string of international acquisitions with its recent joint venture announcement to bring Panda Express to the Philippines in September of last year and its ₱1.74 billion investment in acquiring the master franchise holder for Tim Ho Wan in Asia Pacific from early 2018.
With this deal, JFC will control all of CBTL’s 1,189 outlets (as of December 2018) in 27 countries. In turn, this will make JFC’s coffee business account for 14% of its global sales making it the second largest business just behind the company’s core restaurant chain, Jollibee.
Jollibee chairman, Tony Tan Caktiong, states that, “Our priority is to accelerate the growth of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand particularly in Asia, by strengthening its brand development, marketing, and franchise support system.”
