A raft of firms have scored roles in Yum Brands' sale of its Pizza Hut chain for a combined $2.7bn in two deals that underscore separate fortunes for its business in China and the rest of the world.
Weil Gotshal & Manges and Mayer Brown are advising Yum Brands, which will sell the chain's stores in the US and the rest of the world, excluding Mainland China, to private equity firm LongRange Capital for $1.5bn. Paul Weiss is acting as legal counsel to LongRange on the deal, with Greenberg Traurig serving as franchise counsel.
Meanwhile, Pizza Hut in Mainland China will be acquired for $1.2bn by longtime operator Yum China Holdings, which is being advised by Sidley Austin and China's Fangda Partners.
The sale comes as Pizza Hut's operations outside Mainland China, which include more than 15,000 restaurants across 100 countries, have struggled in recent years amid changing consumer habits and higher commodity costs. US Pizza Hut comparable store sales have declined for 10 straight quarters, Reuters reported.
The China business, which has around 4,375 stores, has been doing much better, with sales increasing 4% last year and operating profit by 19%, according to Reuters. It has already become the biggest casual dining brand in China and intends to grow to more than 6,000 outlets by 2028.
Weil's New York-based team is co-led by Michael Aiello, chair of the firm's 600-lawyer corporate department, and M&A partner Amanda Fenster. They are being supported by counsel Rachel Shapiro.
Mayer Brown's team is headed by Chicago duo Jodi Simala, co-head of the firm's strategic M&A practice and IP partner Richard Assmus, alongside Palo Alto-based corporate partner Nina Flax.
Meanwhile, Paul Weiss' team is led by corporate partners Angelo Bonvino, Cullen Sinclair and Matthew Benedetto. Earlier this year, Bonvino and Sinclair co-led the team that advised LongRange when it bought 24 Hour Fitness, one of the largest fitness chains in the US, and in 2025, on its $300m acquisition of US Synthetic Corporation from ChampionX Corporation.
Greenberg Traurig's effort is headed by David Oppenheim, co-managing shareholder of the firm's New Jersey office, and Chicago-based partner Kyle Lennox.
The Sidley team advising Yum China, a spinoff of Yum Brands that counts Jack Ma's Ant Group and PE firm Primavera Capital as its main backers, is being led by M&A and private equity partners Paul Choi and Scott Williams and technology and life sciences transactions partners Mark Kaufmann and Lauren Grau.
PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in the 1970s and spun it out in 1997 with Taco Bell and KFC to form the company that later became Yum Brands. Yum, which will retain Taco Bell and KFC, expects the sale to close in the third quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approvals.
Barclays and Goldman Sachs are serving as financial advisers to Yum Brands on the deal.
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