Zamp (), the holding that controls the fast food brands Burger King and Popeyes in Brazil, and has just completed the purchase of Starbucks, intends to expand the coffee shop chain in the country again in 2025, a reversal after the closure of several stores in recent years because of the chain’s financial problems.
The acquisition of Starbucks was closed about three weeks ago and the company’s leadership is already carried out by Zamp, said the executive director of Mubadala Capital, the manager that owns Zamp, Leonardo Yamamoto after participating in a debate on green investments at a UBS event. The manager has among its main investors the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.
“Starbucks is an incredible brand with fantastic market potential. I was in the middle of a mess,” Yamamoto said. The coffee chain had to close more than 50 stores in Brazil in the last two years, amid financial problems for itself and South Rock, the holding company that owns the brand’s operations in the Brazilian market, which went into judicial recovery.
Continues after advertising
Starbucks: acquisition
The acquisition of Starbucks was announced in June, for R$120 million, but with the owner in judicial recovery, it required additional approvals and also more negotiations. “There are still pending issues, but we intend to expand the network again next year”, said the director of Mubadala Capital.
In the other brands owned by Zamp, Yamamoto said that the expansion process of Burger King and Popeyes remains ongoing. The fund also purchased Subway’s operation in Brazil, which also belonged to SouthRock.
The food sector is one of those that attracts Mubadala in Brazil, explained the manager, due to the companies’ need for capital, which were greatly affected by the pandemic, leaving them without revenue. As a result, large companies had to take on debt, and the increase in interest rates by the Central Bank caused damage to the companies.
Continues after advertising
“Several large companies, like Starbucks, had increased financial expenses,” he said. The reflection of this entire environment are several empty spaces in shopping mall food courts. “That’s what creates opportunities.”
“People will continue to physically go to restaurants, to food courts”, explained the manager, highlighting that with retail, the digitalization trend is irreversible, that is, people tend to go to stores less. “That’s why we look at the food sector structurally.”
Mubadala Capital’s focus is to look for assets in special situations, which are experiencing “some displacement, some complex situation, such as partner disputes or regulatory disputes”, said Yamamoto in a debate at the UBS event. There are US$ 3 billion invested in this thesis, which includes infrastructure, consumption and even the new exchange that is being created in Rio de Janeiro.
Ricardo Bellino from Ensina
How to negotiate and persuade
Learn the art of persuasion from an elite negotiator; learn how to influence and convince people with the strategies of Ricardo Bellino, one of the biggest dealmakers in Brazil.
