McDonald’s Singapore and Malaysia franchise rights have been sold to Saudi Arabian company Lionhorn as part of a broader plan by the US fast food company to move away from direct ownership in Asia.

It has transferred its ownership interest in 390 restaurants, more than 80 per cent of which were company-owned.
Lionhorn is led by Sheik Fahd and Abdulrahman Alireza, who are franchisees for nearly 100 McDonald’s restaurants in the western and southern regions of Saudi Arabia.

McDonald’s has not disclosed the financial terms of the deal. It says it has now franchised about 1300 outlets as a part of its target to become 95 per cent franchised by the end of 2018.

“This transaction marks another milestone in our company’s ongoing efforts to identify strategic partners who share our values and vision to accelerate our growth and scale across diverse markets, drive innovation and place us closer to our customers and the communities we serve,” says McDonald’s president/CEO Steve Easterbrook.

Under the developmental licensee (DL) structure, Lionhorn will provide the capital necessary to support and grow the business. It will pay an initial franchise fee and an ongoing royalty to McDonald’s.

Leading the day-to-day management of the Malaysia and Singapore markets, respectively, will be local partners Azmir Jaafar and Kenneth Chan, both of whom previously held senior leadership positions at McDonald’.

Jaafar will continue as the Malaysia market’s MD. He was previously chief development officer of McDonald’s China and MD of the company’s Middle East markets.

Chan joins Lionhorn as MD for Singapore. Before this he was division president for China and Greater Asia as well as CEO of Greater China and MD of Singapore with oversight to Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan.

McDonald’s has more than 36,000 locations in more than 100 countries. More than 80 per cent of its restaurants worldwide are franchised, with McDonald’s having used the DL ownership structure for more than 30 years.