Jamba Inc. has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Vitaligent LLC to refranchise 100 company-owned restaurants in the San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento, California markets. Vitaligent is led by David A. Peacock, former president of InBev subsidiary, Anheuser-Busch, and existing Jamba franchise partner in St. Louis, who, upon closing of the transaction, would own 105 Jamba locations. Under the terms of the agreement, Jamba will receive a purchase price of $36.0 million in cash.
“We are excited to extend our relationship with Dave and his organization. The strength of their partnership group and our shared vision for growth in the Midwest and the West will significantly enhance our brand presence and future growth opportunities. Both organizations share a passion for the brand and a vision to simplify and inspire healthy living,” says James D. White chairman, president and CEO of Jamba. “This is a significant step toward our achieving the company’s commitment to an asset light model and positions us well to reach our goal of generating $30–$40 million of cumulative cash proceeds from refranchising in 2015. We remain focused on increasing shareholder value and will be using a portion of these proceeds to return capital to shareholders through stock repurchases.”
On behalf of the Vitaligent team, which includes Dean VandeKamp, a former partner at Ernest & Young, Peacock says, "We are excited to expand our partnership with Jamba Juice. This world-class brand is at the convergence of the health and well-being movement and trend toward convenience. We are confident that we can drive performance through a disciplined management approach and with a superior team in our stores."
Jamba remains on track to complete its accelerated refranchising program within the first half of 2015. Discussions are underway with interested parties to sell an additional 14 locations in California.
