KEY POINTS:
Restaurant Brands has reached a crunch point in its stalled company sale.
The fast-food firm that owns the New Zealand franchises for KFC, Starbucks Coffee and the ailing Pizza Hut chain is promising it will decide soon whether to sell. It has held lingering talks with three buyers,
including one it describes as the "major contender" for the business.
Chief Executive and company director Vicki Salmon left suddenly on Tuesday night after talks "held over a few days", chairman Ted van Arkel said.
He said yesterday Salmon - who has been a director since the company floated in 1997 and chief executive since 2003 - had left immediately because fast food was a "fast-moving industry".
Van Arkel insisted there were no disagreements between the board and Salmon, and she left because of the "energy levels required for the job".
He declined to discuss whether the board was happy with her performance at the company, which has undergone a long, slow slide in share price in a difficult and competitive market.
Salmon's departure follows last week's release of weak fourth quarter sales for Pizza Hut - the brand that has over the past couple of years been a drag on the company's earnings.
Salmon was not available to give her version of events yesterday. But a well-placed source suggested that talks had gone beyond her leadership style and into strategic issues.
Salmon had been keen to push ahead with a long-pondered sale of the fast-food firm while the board wanted to hold out for a better price, according to the source.
Van Arkel insisted Salmon's departure and the lingering sale talks were unrelated.
He said the Restaurant Brands board would be meeting on April 9 and would be looking at the question of the sale, which some believe has held up share prices, albeit at a low level.
Shares in the company closed yesterday at $1.09, down 1c. Last November they traded as low as 92c.
"Having [private equity] talking to us from time to time has been distracting and we do need to make a call which way we intend to go and sooner rather than later," Van Arkel said.
Restaurant Brands appointed Macquarie Bank to advise on the sale but Van Arkel said there was no firm offer on the table from the unnamed players.
One of the three parties interested was a trade buyer - a fast-food operator - working with a private equity company. He said there was one major contender with two other parties that had renewed their interest.
Two names have been linked to Restaurant Brands.
Private equity company CVC Asia Pacific made an offer of $1.65 a share in June 2005 but withdrew, in part over pending renewal of rights for some KFC restaurants.
The global rights to the KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee brands are owned by US-based Yum! Brands.
KFC delivers two-thirds of Restaurant Brands' business. Under newly appointed chairman Van Arkel Restaurant Brands brought forward its 10-year renewal to remove barriers to a sale.
Australian company Pacific Equity Partners has also been been looking at Restaurant Brands. In New Zealand PEP owns several high-profile companies, including Griffins Foods and Tegel Foods, with the latter offering obvious synergies with KFC.
More to the point, Australia PEP owns Collins Foods, which has the franchises to 112 KFCs in Australia and 306 Sizzler restaurants worldwide.
It also has a relationship with Yum! Brands, which will have a role in approving any owners for the company that controls its brands.
Yesterday Van Arkel rejected a suggestion that Yum! Brands' Australian operation was a party to the talks.