McDonald’s Corporation has announced it has selected Lionhorn as the Developmental Licensee (DL) for its Malaysia and Singapore markets. 
Lionhorn is led by Fahd and Abdulrahman Alireza, who bring 20 years of experience as the DL for the nearly 100 McDonald’s restaurants in the Western and Southern regions of Saudi Arabia.
“This transaction marks another milestone in our company’s ongoing efforts to identify strategic partners who share our values and vision to accelerate our growth and scale across diverse markets, drive innovation and place us closer to our customers and the communities we serve,” McDonald’s President and CEO Steve Easterbrook was quoted as saying in a press release.
The new DL assumed ownership of the McDonald’s business in Malaysia and Singapore on Dec. 1. 
It includes 390 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which were company-owned. 
Under the DL structure, McDonald’s transferred its ownership interest in McDonald’s Malaysia and Singapore and granted a license to the DL to run McDonald’s restaurant operations in these markets. The DL partner will provide the capital necessary to support and grow the business and will pay an initial franchise fee and an ongoing royalty to McDonald’s.
“We are pleased to welcome Fahd as the Developmental Licensee for our business in Malaysia and Singapore,” said Simone Hoyle, head of McDonald’s Asia Foundational Markets. 
“Fahd and Abdulrahman Alireza’s experience in running great restaurants will create brand excitement for our customers and new opportunities for our people as these markets continue to grow and develop.”
Local operating partners Azmir Jaafar and Kenneth Chan will lead the day-to-day management of the Malaysia and Singapore markets. They have previously held senior leadership positions at McDonald’s and together possess over 40 years of experience.
This announcement follows a rigorous evaluation and selection process over the past year. 
As part of its turnaround plan announced in May of 2015, McDonald’s committed to refranchising 4,000 restaurants by the end of 2018 with the long-term goal of becoming 95 percent franchised. With this transaction, McDonald’s has now refranchised around 1,300 restaurants.

Source: Arab News