Burger King has formed a new joint venture in China to open over 1,000 restaurants within the next five to seven years. The chain is looking to gain new ground in key emerging growth markets.
The fast food giant said it entered into the agreement with the Kurdoglu family, a master franchisee family for many years with Burger King and Cartesian Capital Group a private-equity company.
The deal is the company’s large development agreement for multi-units and will make the Kurdoglu’s the system’s largest global franchisee. The new venture holds the exclusive rights of expansion for the Burger King brand within China, where currently there are just 63 restaurants.
In 2010, Burger King became private when 3G Capital Management a private-equity firm based in New York took the company over for $4 billion. In April, the company reached a cash deal worth $1.4 billion with Justice Holdings an investment vehicle from the United Kingdom that would bring the chain back to being public. The principle shareholder in the deal will remain 3G Capital with over 71% of the public entity. In May, the company announced that profits in the first quarter had increased by over 3% thanks to strong sales in their North American market.
China is the world’s second largest economy and is quickly becoming a popular market for many worldwide manufacturers and restaurants.
