JFC ups funding for Tim Ho Wan

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), the listed food conglomerate, has raised its funding commitment to Titan Dining LP (Titan), the private equity fund which owns the Tim Ho Wan brand, to SGD225 million out of the increased fund size of SGD$250 million.

This comes months after JFC raised its stake in Tim Ho Wan to 100 percent last August from an initial 45 percent in 2018.

Tim Ho Wan is the famed Michelin-star Asian restaurant known for its dim sum.

In a disclosure yesterday, JFC said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL) announced amendments to  Limited Partnership Agreement for Titan.

The amendment includes an increase in the fund size to SGD$250 million from SGD$200 million, which in turn, would put JWPL’s total commitment to the fund at SGD$225 million. JWPL’s commitment comprises 90 percent of the increased fund size.

The additional investment would fund working capital requirements of Tim Ho Wan, as well as facilitate the completion of other projects.

The amendments will also allow Titan to have additional investors who will take up a 10 percent participating interest in Titan.

JFC first invested in Titan in 2018 with a 45 percent participating interest in the private equity fund, which is the master franchisee of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific region.

Since then, JFC has been increasing its stake in Titan, raising Its participating interest to 60 percent, then to 85 percent and eventually to 100 percent.

At present, Tim Ho Wan operates 53 outlets in Asia. It has 12 stores in Singapore, 12 in Taiwan, seven  in the Philippines and six in Hong Kong.

JFC’s investment in Tim Ho Wan expands its portfolio of Chinese cuisine on top of its five existing brands: Chowking, a Chinese fast casual concept with presence mostly in the Philippines; Yonghe King, a Taiwanese food-inspired restaurant chain in China; Hong Zhuang Yuan, a full-service restaurant chain in Beijing and Panda Express.