26 February 2014 - BurgerFuel shareholders have voted with a resounding yes to the ratification of the agreement between BurgerFuel Worldwide and American company Franchise Brands

Voting occurred at the BFW Extraordinary General Meeting today, attended by a strong representation of its shareholders. The initial announcement of the deal in January 2014 saw BurgerFuel Worldwide (BFW) shares more than double in the days following.

Franchise Brands LLC will join BFW as shareholder and franchise advisor. Franchise Brands was created in 2005 with the support and guidance of the founders of Subway restaurants, Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck, in order to invest in and offer guidance to small and mid-market companies with experienced management that are seeking to expand their businesses. Subway is the largest single brand restaurant chain in the world with over 40,000 franchised stores in more than 100 countries.

Franchise Brands will collaborate with BFW to help grow the business by providing knowledge and support as well as global development opportunities, including in the United States where BurgerFuel plans to open restaurants. Franchise Brands will take an initial 10 percent stake in BFW with an option to increase its holding up to 50 percent over 8 years.

BFW Chairman Peter Brook said, ‘Clearly our shareholders can see the merits of such a large global relationship. The Franchise Brands deal is an incredible milestone that will provide valuable links to existing Subway franchisees who are looking to extend their portfolios. This will drive significant value for BFW, as has been evidenced in the share price of late.’

BFW Group CEO Josef Roberts commented: ‘A deal like this takes a considerable amount of time, energy and resource to get over the line and we’re thrilled that as of today our management team can once again focus on opening restaurants and delivering more growth and value to our shareholders. We’re looking forward to working closely with the Franchise Brands team to maximise the Subway opportunity.’

BurgerFuel Founding Director Chris Mason added, ‘The approval of the deal today by our shareholders supports our original vision to take New Zealand’s built-fresh, gourmet burgers to the world. Now that we’re well established in the Middle East, I’m excited to get to work on opening our first stores in the USA.’

BurgerFuel Worldwide (BFW) is publicly listed on the NZ Stock Exchange as a NZAX company and has been listed since 2007.

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