Yum China board lineup revealed

Yum China has revealed the likely composition of its board post-spin-off from its US parent, Yum! Brands.

The new company to be formed after the sell-off to Primavera Capital Group and a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will be called Yum China Holdings and is expected to be formally formed on October 31.

The nine new directors announced, seven of whom are independent, will join the board chaired by Dr Fred Hu, chairman and founder of Primavera Capital Group.

The other members are:

• Micky Pant, CEO of Yum China.

• Peter A Bassi, former chairman and president of Yum! Restaurants International and current lead director for BJ’s Restaurant and Potbelly Sandwich Works.

• Christian L Campbell, owner of Christian L Campbell Consulting LLC and former senior VP, general counsel, secretary and chief franchise policy officer of Yum! Brands.

• Ed Chan Yiu-Cheong, vice chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group.

• Edouard Ettedgui, non-executive chairman of Alliance Francaise, Hong Kong and non-executive director of Mandarin Oriental International.

• Louis T Hsieh, director and senior advisor to the CEO, and former CFO and president of New Oriental Education & Technology Group.

• Jonathan S Linen, director for Yum! Brands and Modern Bank, former adviser to the chairman of American Express, and former vice chairman of American Express.

• Zili Shao, co-chairman of King & Wood Mallesons, China.

Yum China also expects to name one additional independent board member in connection with the spin-off.

Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed said the company was pleased to have announced the composition of the Yum China board, as it nears the completion of the separation.

“We are confident that these business leaders will offer the market insights and strategic vision required to enable Yum China to reach its full potential.”

Yum China will become the licensee of Yum! Brands in Mainland China. It will have exclusive rights to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the latter of which is expanding globally but is not yet in China. It will also own the Little Sheep and East Dawning concepts outright.

Yum China has more than 7200 restaurants in over 1100 cities in China and generated over US$8 billion in system sales in 2015.