McDonald’s Korean unit up for sale

McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain, has put its Korean unit up for sale, industry sources said.

The company has asked financial services company Morgan Stanley to look for potential buyers but how much stake it wants to sell is unknown, they said.

The food chain announced on March 31 its plans to search for “strategic partners” in Asia and add more than 1,500 restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Korea over the next five years.

“These actions build on our turnaround efforts and will advance local ownership, enable faster decision-making and achieve restaurant growth,” Steve Easterbrook, CEO of McDonald’s, said in a statement.

Out of McDonald’s 119 units worldwide, more than 60 percent of them are operated in the form of franchise or local partnership.

McDonald’s suffered a 7 percent decline in sales in 2014 and its annual profits plunged by 15 percent the same year. The company does not disclose earnings results by country.

The company has also put its Japanese unit up for sale last year, in an apparent attempt to improve low profitability.

In February, Hong Kong-based private equity Affinity Equity Partners acquired Burger King Korea for 210 billion won ($182 million), with a plan to increase the food chain’s outlets to 500 within five years.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)