Hard to digest: why Philippines’ Jollibee wants to buy Pret A Manger – for ‘US$1 billion’

Fancy a 400-calorie Pret A Manger quinoa salad to go with your greasy Jollibee fried chicken and sweet-style spaghetti?

Hong Kong’s diehard patrons of the star-logoed British healthy foods chain and the Philippine fast food institution balked when this question was posed to them by This Week in Asia.

But while the menu offerings of the two companies – deemed national treasures of sorts in their home countries – hardly go well together, industry experts say that is no reason to write off a corporate marriage between the food titans.

The prospect of the uncanny alliance was thrust into the spotlight this week after Reuters reported that cash-rich Jollibee Foods Corp – the biggest Asian-owned fast food company – was mulling an acquisition of Pret A Manger in its latest push to expand its global reach.

The deal would be worth upwards of US$1 billion, Reuters said, quoting unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, making it one of the biggest overseas deals by a Filipino company.

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The two companies did not outrightly refute the report, although Jollibee said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the information in the Reuters report was not from the company.