McDonald's targets to become 98 percent franchised by 2019

McDonald's, an American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain, has planned to move away from direct ownership in Asia.

As a part of the plan McDonald's has sold its franchise rights of its restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia to Saudi Arabia's Lionhorn Pte Ltd.

It said that it has transferred its ownership interest in 390 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which were company-owned, on Dec. 1 to Lionhorn.

Lionhorn is led by Sheik Fahd and Abdulrahman Alireza, who are franchisees for nearly 100 McDonald's restaurants in the western and southern regions of Saudi Arabia.

McDonald's did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

As reported by, McDonald's was nearing a deal worth up to $400 million to franchise the outlets to Reza group, which also owns and operates McDonald's outlets in the western and southern regions of Saudi Arabia.

The Lionhorn deal is in line with McDonald's plans to bring in partners in Asia as it switches to a less capital-intensive franchise model.

The company said it has now franchised about 1,300 outlets as a part of its target to become 95 percent franchised by the end of 2018.