Competition Authority approves RBI purchase of local Burger King brand

  • Lusa
  • 8 September 2022

RBI is active in the fast-food sector under the Burger King brand, with 27 restaurants in Portugal. It is controlled by Cinven, an international private equity company.

Portugal’s Competition Authority (AdC) has given the green light to the purchase by Restaurant Brands Iberia (RBI) of exclusive control of Iber King and Lurca from the Ibersol group, and of the Burger King brand in Portugal, according to information available on the competition regulator’s website.

“On September 6 2022, the Board of the AdC, using the powers conferred on it by subparagraph d) of paragraph 1 of article 19 of the Statutes, approved by Decree-Law no. /2014, of 18 August, decided to adopt a decision not to oppose the present concentration operation, under the terms of subparagraph b) of paragraph 1 of article 50 of the Competition Law, since it is not susceptible to create significant obstacles to effective competition in the national market or a substantial part of it,” reads a note in English published on the AdC website.

The notification to the AdC of the merger was made on 8 August, with RBI reporting the intended acquisition of sole control over Iber King Restauração and Lucra – currently owned by the Ibersol Group – and over a number of establishments operating in Portugal and Spain under the Burger King brand, which is owned by the same group.

RBI is active in the fast-food sector under the Burger King brand, with 27 restaurants in Portugal. It is controlled by Cinven, an international private equity company.

Iber King operates fast food outlets in Portugal, under the Burger King brand, as well as Lurca in Spain.

On 3 August, RBI announced the completion of the purchase of the 158 restaurants of the Burger King chain from Ibersol, in Portugal and Spain, for €260 million.

RBI owns the rights as master franchise for Portugal and Spain of the Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes brands, noted that the agreement with Ibersol was reached “after months of negotiation”.

This operation “includes the integration of 121 restaurants in Portugal and 37 in Spain, which will increase the number of spaces owned by RB Iberia to 775, of which 722 correspond to Burger King,” the group said.

In Portugal, there are currently 164 restaurants under the Burger King flag, of which 137 are franchised and 27 are owned.

Last year, the brand’s sales in Portugal totalled €145 million.

The total sales of Burger King Spain last year exceeded €1 billion (almost 30% more than in the previous period), rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.