The leadership of the international sandwich chain Subway is exploring the possibility of selling it for more than 10,000 million dollars, sources close to the operation have revealed to Bloomberg.
The process is at a very early stage, and they could still reverse the decision to seek a sale of the chain. “As a privately owned company, we do not comment on our ownership structure or our business plans,” Subway responded in an email to the US agency. “We remain focused on driving the brand forward with our transformation process in order to help our franchisees become profitable.”
Subway has long been an appetizing morsel for the funds of private equity. The Milford, Connecticut company is one of the largest fast food chains in the world, with 37,000 establishments spread across 100 countries. Its rapid growth since the opening of the first store in 1965 slowed down over the years amid stiff competition.
Last October Subway announced that during the previous 18 months it had been experiencing a positive trend, thanks, as the company itself explained, to the reconfiguration of its image for its campaign that sought customers to have a better perception of its ingredients. Digital and app sales were the ones that sustained the results.
According to Bloomberg, these positive results that it has been accumulating may help consummate an operation that could otherwise be marred by criticism from franchisees and dwindling sales.