The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday approved the takeover of Yum Restaurants (Taiwan) Co (台灣百勝肯德基) by Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd, saying the deal did not create a monopoly.
Hong Kong-based Jardine, which owns Pizza Hut operator Jardine Food Services (Taiwan) Co (富利食品), received permission to acquire 100 percent of Yum Restaurants, which runs Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Taiwan, through its subsidiary, Jardine Matheson Europe BV.
The Cabinet-level commission said the ownership of both chains would not change the way Pizza Hut and KFC run their businesses, as they have different product appeal.
The threshold for operating Western fast food businesses in Taiwan is low, with diversified product offerings on the market, the commission said. As such, the deal with Jardine will not change the market structure, it said.
Yum Restaurants could see its competitiveness enhanced after the takeover brings in new capital, it said.
Yum Restaurants was originally owned by KFC’s US headquarters but its performance was lackluster.
In December, the head office decided to let Jardine take over operations of its KFC restaurants in Taiwan.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
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The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
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