[Newsmaker] McDonald’s seeks to sell Korean branch again

McDonald’s, the world’s largest burger chain by revenue, is seeking a buyer to take over the Korean business it wholly owns, six years after its first attempt, which fell apart after a local dairy company backed out.

“We’re looking for a strategic partner who could help our business here grow. We’re looking at several options with outside advisers,” a McDonald’s Korea official said Friday, declining to elaborate on details.

Mirae Asset Securities will be the lead manager in charge of finding the new owner who will oversee the Korean unit, which reported 1 trillion won ($789 million) in sales last year, the most since it opened a Korean store in 1988.

The directly managed stores, which account for about 70 percent of the Korean business with the rest being franchises, posted 867 billion won in sales, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier, while its net loss was cut in half to 34 billion won, the company said, noting the BTS meal inspired by the K-pop sensation helped growth.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)