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The Indonesian operator of Pizza Hut said its restaurants and franchise rights will be unaffected by Yum! Brands' 2.7 billion US dollar sale of the global Pizza Hut business, moving to reassure customers and investors as the newly profitable company guards a hard-won recovery.

PT Sarimelati Kencana, the master franchisee that runs Pizza Hut in Indonesia and trades on the Indonesia Stock Exchange under the ticker PZZA, said operations continue as normal across its Pizza Hut Restaurant and Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD) networks despite the change of ownership at the level of the global principal.

The transaction at the principal level has no impact on Pizza Hut's operations or service in Indonesia, the company said, adding that customer service, relationships with business partners and the rollout of its business strategy all remain in place. President director and chief executive Boy Lukito said the existing franchise agreement stays valid, with no change to the company's ownership, control or status as a publicly listed firm. Day-to-day coordination with the global principal will continue throughout the transition, he said.

Boy welcomed Yum's move as a step to strengthen Pizza Hut globally and said the company would stay focused on executing its growth strategy in Indonesia while maintaining service for customers nationwide. The company will keep coordinating with the principal during the transition, he said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The global deal

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) announced on June 16 that it had agreed to sell Pizza Hut for 2.7 billion dollars in aggregate, splitting the world's largest pizza chain between two buyers. LongRange Capital, a US private equity firm, will acquire Pizza Hut outside mainland China for about 1.5 billion dollars, plus a potential earn-out of up to 75 million dollars by 2030. Yum China Holdings will separately buy the mainland China business for roughly 1.2 billion dollars. Yum expects net proceeds of about 2.3 billion dollars after taxes and fees, and both deals are expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.

The sale ends Pizza Hut's nearly three-decade run inside Yum's portfolio and lets the company concentrate on KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill. Pizza Hut has weighed on Yum's results, posting declining US same-store sales for 10 straight quarters and closing roughly 250 US outlets in the first half of 2026 as it lost ground to Domino's and third-party delivery apps. Sarimelati Kencana said it viewed LongRange's arrival positively, citing the firm's stated focus on operations, customer experience and long-term growth through close partnerships with franchisees.

A fragile recovery at home

For Sarimelati Kencana, the change of global ownership arrives just as its business has turned a corner. The company returned to a full-year net profit of 24.75 billion rupiah, about 1.4 million dollars, in 2025, reversing a loss of 72.83 billion rupiah a year earlier, as net sales rose to 3.05 trillion rupiah, around 171 million dollars. It has now booked profits for six straight quarters since the fourth quarter of 2024, which it described as evidence of sustained recovery.

The rebound followed a punishing stretch. PZZA had been loss-making since 2020, when the pandemic emptied dining rooms, and its difficulties deepened from late 2023 when boycotts of Western brands tied to the Gaza conflict swept Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. A 2023 edict from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) urging consumers to avoid products linked to Israel weighed on US chains including Pizza Hut and KFC. The company shut around 20 outlets and trimmed its workforce to weather the downturn, before cost discipline and sales initiatives restored profitability.

Sarimelati Kencana is controlled by local shareholder PT Sriboga Raturaya and is not among the assets changing hands in the Yum transaction, a structure that insulates its own ownership from the global deal. The company has also moved to diversify, recently establishing a new subsidiary to enter the bakery business.

Whether the new global principal eventually alters franchise support, supply terms or branding for operators will become clearer as the transaction closes. For now, Indonesia's Pizza Hut operator is signaling business as usual, intent on protecting a recovery that took years to secure.