Jollibee sells Batangas chicken plant land as part of property divestment to lure foreign investors

Tony Tan Caktiong 

Jollibee Foods chair

Tycoon Tony Tan Caktiong's Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is selling its 30 percent stake in C-Joy Poultry Realty to Agrotek Commodities for almost P34 million as part of its plan to exit all property holdings and lure more foreign investors.

The move allows the P270-billion  fast food giant to comply with constitutional rules that limit foreign ownership of land in the Philippines.

Why is Jollibee doing this? 

JFC earlier changed its corporate papers to officially drop real estate from its business, clearing the way for the Philippine Stock Exchange to remove the 40 percent foreign ownership cap on JFC shares. 

This opens the door for more foreign investors to buy into the fast good giant’s growth amid its expanding footprint overseas.

Chicken production venture with Cargill intact 

In a stock exchange filing on Monday, JFC said it will keep its 30 percent stake in C-Joy Poultry Meats Production, a chicken processing joint venture it set up in 2017 with US-based Cargill, a global food and agribusiness giant with operations in over 70 countries.

C-Joy Poultry Realty owns the land in Batangas province used by the meats plant, which supplies JFC with core chicken products like whole chicken and marinated cuts.

The sale will also free up capital JFC can use for expansion program, the company said on Monday.