KFC franchise finds buyer
Brian Benza | Friday October 20, 2017 14:34
Liquidator of the franchise, Nigel Dixon-Warren told Mmegi Business yesterday that at a meeting held last week, creditors accepted the bid, which will take the company out of liquidation. Dixon-Warren however declined to name the winning bidder saying the matter still has to get regulatory approval including from the Competition Authority.
“We had four bidders in the final stages and we selected one as the preferred bidder who did their final due diligence and made a final offer. If the deal gets regulatory approval, we expect to hand over the business to the new owner by the beginning of December,” he said.
He however confirmed that the winning bidder was a locally registered company.
Creditors of KFC are owed about P80 million, but Dixon-Warren also declined to give an indication of the average amount a creditor will be able to recoup per pula owed. “The final price is subject to a number of variables so we don’t have a final amount yet,” he said.
KFC was placed under final liquidation by the High Court in September last year after the company failed to service its debts and creditors led by First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) filed for the company to be liquidated. FNBB, through chief executive officer Steven Bogatsu, petitioned for the final liquidation of VPB Propco and three other related companies. The KFC Botswana business was run through four connected companies being VPB Propco, the franchise holder, QSR Food Company and Boitumelo Dijo, which amongst themselves held leases and trading licences for the 12 KFC outlets.
The fourth company, Greenax Limited, which was cited as the fourth respondent in the petition, only operated in-store point of sale machines and received cash from the 12 outlets. Following an urgent petition by FNBB, KFC Botswana was placed under provisional liquidation on June 2, 2016 with the provisional liquidator Dixon-Warren later determining the franchise’s total creditors at P106 million. Amongst some of the largest creditors was FNBB, which was the lead petitioner for the company to be placed under liquidation over a P41 million debt.
Other banks such as Stanbic and Barclays are owed various amounts as well. Franchise holder, Yum Restaurants was reportedly owed about P21 million comprising franchise, advertising and trading fees.