LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Yum Brands, owner of the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC fast-food brands, is considering buying a majority stake in the Little Sheep Group Ltd. restaurant chain in China.
Yum currently owns about 27.2 percent of the shares of the Hot Pot restaurants operator and said Tuesday that its proposal allows for Little Sheep's chairman and other founding shareholders to keep a minority stake in the company, based in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.
A formal offer has not been made yet.
Little Sheep trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Yum has almost 38,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories.