Australia’s most well-known franchisee, Jack Cowin, is selling his KFC stores to Collins Foods for $55.6 million.

The sale of Competitive Foods’ KFC outlets has been the subject of speculation, with Cowin in a long-running dispute with franchisor Yum!.

A spokesperson from Yum! told Franchising, “Yum! hopes that the finalisation will end the long-running dispute.”

The transition of the business will take place at the end of January.

Collins Foods’ purchase of the 40 Western Australian stores and four in the Northern Territory gives the Queensland based business the majority of KFC outlets in Western Australian.

The managing director of Collins Foods, Kevin Perkins, [left] told Franchising the company will invest in upgrading existing restaurants and expanding the network.

“The State can take another 25 to 30 stores, we aim to open eight within two years. We will probably spend $25 million on upgrades over four years and $8 million to $10 million on new stores.”

The company strategy is to open four to five outlets a year, as it does in Queensland.

“We like the business and we think wer’e good at it. We can add some synergies to it,” said Perkins.

“It’s a good market, there are a lot of opportunities in good stores, because of the disputes they haven’t invested in them.”

• Collins Foods is the largest KFC franchisee in Australia, with 122 KFC outlets in Queensland and two in New South Wales. The business also operates 27 Sizzler restaurants in Australia, is the franchisor of more than 50 Sizzler outlets in Asia and owns the Sizzler trademark globally (except in the US, Guatemala and Puerto Rico).