Investor’s Business Daily:
Tourists in Latin America might enjoy sampling the local tilapia, horchata or yucca fries. But if they get a hankering for comfort food, they won’t have to look far to find los arcos dorados — the Golden Arches.
There are some 1,757 McDonald’s restaurants in Latin America, run through a franchise agreement with Arcos Dorados. McDonald’s sold the business to CEO Woods Staton and a handful of private equity funds in 2007, after inking a 20-year franchise deal.
On April 14, the new owners brought the company public on the NYSE.
Investors and analysts salivated at the chance to get in on Latin America’s booming fast-food market. According to Euromonitor, between 2010 and 2014 the industry is expected to grow 19% in Argentina, 27% in Brazil, 26% in Chile and 31% in Colombia.