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| Keith Meister, managing partner, Corvex Management |
“Serving on the YUM Board has been a tremendous experience. With the China spin?off successfully executed, and YUM’s capital structure, management team and transformation plans in place, the company is set up for great success,” Meister said. “I hold this management team in the highest regard, and believe that under Greg Creed’s impressive leadership the company is well on its way to achieving its long-term goals.”
Yum! Brands’ CEO and member of the Board of Directors, Greg Creed said, “On behalf of everyone at Yum! Brands, I would like to thank Keith for his contributions. We formed a collaborative partnership and were thrilled to see our joint vision for the future of YUM put into place. With the support of Keith, YUM accomplished the successful separation of our China business and established a roadmap for becoming a one-of-a-kind global franchisor with a uniquely powerful and predictable free cash flow growth profile.”
According to Creed, 2016 was a landmark year for Yum! Brands. The company completed its spinoff of its China business on Oct. 31, 2016. “This marked the largest strategic initiative undertaken by Yum! since our spinoff from Pepsi 20 years ago,” Creed told analysts during an earnings call earlier this month. “The spinoff and concurrent return of $6.2 billion to shareholders in 2016 concluded step one in our transformation,” he said.
In addition, Yum! Brands launched “a new multi-year strategic transformation plan to become a more focused, more franchised and more efficient company in order to strengthen and grow its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands around the world,” according to the company. Yum! Brands Inc. currently has over 43,500 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories. Worldwide, the Yum! Brands system opens over six new restaurants per day on average.
Bob Walter, non-executive chairman for Yum! Brands said, “Keith has been an invaluable member of the Board as we have undergone a dramatic transformation. His fresh perspectives and his focus on shareholder value were instrumental in helping to develop the company’s current structure and multi?year growth plan. We look forward to delivering on these commitments as we continue to evolve as the food industry’s leading, focused, global franchisor.”
