Unirest agrees to buy almost 100 KFC outlets currently managed by AK Russia - newspaper

MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Unirest LLC, which manages the Rostic's and KFC brands in Russia, is in the process of agreeing to acquire the business of its franchisee AK Russia LLC, Kommersant reported.

The deal entails about 100 outlets currently managed by AK Russia; the company previously said it has no plans to rebrand its locations as Rostic's (most have permission to use the KFC brand through 2035).

Unirest declined to comment to the newspaper, and AK Russia did not respond to a comment request.

AmRest, the restaurant holding which previously managed KFC restaurants in Russia, closed a deal in May 2023 to sell its Russian business to Smart Service Ltd., which owns Unirest LLC, for 100 million euros.

The Russian company also acted as the buyer of KFC's Russian business, which was owned by Yum! Brands, Inc. As part of the deal, the parties agreed that Smart Service would rebrand the chain, with KFC renamed Rostic's.

It was previously reported that the transition of all KFC restaurants in Russia to the Rostic's brand should be completed in Q1 2024.

The SPARK-Interfax analytical system shows that, in 2022, the revenue of AK Russia LLC totaled 8.6 billion rubles, a 45% increase over 2021. The company's net profit was 7.7 million rubles.

The Unified State Register of Legal Entities shows that AK Russia is 90.1% owned by Cypriot Lerondale Assets Ltd., while the remaining 9.99% is owned by Sberbank Investments.