Saudi group buys McDonald's Singapore, Malaysia franchise

Saudi Arabia's Lionhorn Pte Ltd has bought franchise rights for McDonald Corp.’s restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia as the New York-listed fast food chain looks to move away from direct ownership in Asia.

In a statement McDonald’s said it 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, the statement said.

The fast food firm did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Earlier, Reuters had reported that Mc Donald’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 Saudi Arabia.

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