Restaurant Brands’ buy raises taco chain hopes

Mexican-themed fast-food chain Taco Bell could be on its way to New Zealand.

Kiwi fast-food giant Restaurant Brands is taking over Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in Hawaii, in a $146 million deal.

The company, which operates Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks and Carls Jr in New Zealand, said it will buy Pacific Island Restaurants (PIR) for US$105 million (NZ$146m). It will settle later this year.

Restaurant Brands chief financial officer Grant Ellis said: ‘‘Does this mean Taco Bell is coming to New Zealand? The short answer is no, not right at the moment … but the opportunity is definitely there.’’

Taco Bell was a ‘‘very attractive’’ brand and was on par with KFC in terms of popularity and growth, Ellis said.

‘‘We would like to think it’s expandable worldwide, but that is still, very much, in the future.’’

PIR is the largest operator of fast-food restaurants in Hawaii, with 82 Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores.

‘‘PIR is a well-run and profitable company and represents an excellent opportunity for [Restaurant Brands] to further diversify its earnings, whilst providing access to the profitable Taco Bell brand,’’ Restaurant Brands said.

‘‘There are also further expansion opportunities in that market.’’

In a statement yesterday, Restaurant Brands chief executive Russel Creedy said PIR provided the next stage to Restaurant Brand’s growth strategy.

‘‘It also provides an entry point into the Hawaiian market, which has a similar total population to Auckland and is currently benefitting from positive economic growth. We also see a number of other potential bolt-on opportunities in the market that we may look to pursue over time where they make strategic and financial sense.’’

It comes one year after Restaurant Brands chairman Ted Van Arkel said to ‘‘watch this space’’, in response to questions from shareholders about whether there were plans to bring Taco Bell to New Zealand.

The company is proposing to pay for the acquisition of PIR partly by raising $94m from shareholders.

The deal comes as the company reported a 22 per cent increase in sales in the 28 weeks ended September 12 to $256.2m, boosted by an acquisition in Australia.