It was initially rumoured to be listed on the local bourse about 3 years ago

By SHAHEERA AZNAM SHAH / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL 

QSR Brands (M) Holdings Bhd will announce details for its proposed relisting on Bursa Malaysia next week, as the details are currently being finalised by the top management, said MD Datuk Seri Mohamed Azahari Mohamed Kamil (picture).

He said the top management board of QSR — a subsidiary of Johor Corp (JCorp) — has deliberated at length on the initial public offering (IPO) proposal since a draft prospectus was submitted to the Securities Commission Malaysia in October 2018.

“There will be some announcements by JCorp president and CEO Datuk Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim on the listing exercise and it will be next week,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Mohamed Azahari had previously stated that QSR was set to return to Bursa Malaysia by the first half of 2019 (1H19).

The operator of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains in the Asean region was initially rumoured to be listed on the local bourse about three years ago after it was delisted in 2013.

QSR operates over 810 KFC outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Cambodia, while it also manages some 460 Pizza Hut restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore.

According to QSR’s draft prospectus, it plans to issue up to 1.47 billion shares on the Main Board, of which some 1.3 billion shares will be allocated to institutional investors.

The remaining 167.5 million shares will be offered to retail investors, including 125.65 million shares made available for Malaysians.

The prospect of QSR’s relisting could spur interest on the local bourse, which recorded subdued performance last year with only two Main Board listings.

Speaking to media in May last year, Kamaruzzaman said QSR is looking to raise about RM2 billion via an IPO, raising the company’s market value upon listing to RM6 billion.

The flotation exercise was supposed to involve both the upstream and downstream businesses of QSR.

The quick-service restaurant group had previously been listed on Bursa Malaysia, but in 2012, JCorp — together with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners — took KFC Holdings (M) Bhd and its parent QSR private in a RM5.2 billion deal that was completed in early 2013.

JCorp is current ly the substantial shareholder of QSR with a 51% stake, while the EPF and CVC each control a 25% and 24% stake respectively.

QSR — which is also involved in the poultry farming business via its subsidiary Ayamas Food Corp Sdn Bhd — remained the largest revenue contributor to JCorp in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), with RM4.56 billion in turnover, which was a 7.45% increase from 2016.

The firm’s net profit rose 61.3% to RM182.98 million from RM113.44 million in FY16, while its cash position was RM483.84 million as at end-2017.

The revenue growth of QSR was attributed to the KFC and Pizza Hut franchises, which had been collectively expanding from 1,253 outlets in 2016 to 1,272 in 2017 in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Cambodia.