Investors to acquire over 117 KFC and 91 Pizza Hut outlets

Fair trade regulator CCI has approved the proposed acquisition of some franchise operations of Yum! India, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell restaurants by a consortium of investors led by Samara Capital.

Under the deal, a total of 117 KFC and 91 Pizza Hut outlets would be acquired by the clutch of investors including Samara Capital, QSR Management Trust, Goldman Sachs Investments Holdings Asia, IDI Emerging Markets Partners CX Partners, Sapphire Foods India Pvt Ltd and Sapphire Foods Mauritius.

In an order, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it "is of the opinion that the proposed combination is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India in any of the relevant market."

As part of the deal, the investors would acquire 87 KFC outlets from Yum! India, while 81 Pizza Hut outlets would be purchased from the Dubai-based Dodsal group, among others.

Overall, Pizza Hut has around 380 outlets in the country, while KFC has 352.