BIZ BUZZ: Buzz: No IPO for Highlands . . . yet

The coffee and tea space may be the next big thing for Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC).

But a stock market debut may not be the secret recipe for all-out success—at least, not yet.

Such is the case for coffee chain Highlands Coffee, which has been energized enough to escape a recent slump triggered by macroeconomic challenges in neighboring Vietnam, its home turf.

JFC chief financial officer Richard Shin told reporters on Friday that Highlands, the homegrown fast-food giant’s first specialty coffee brand, had just begun recovering.

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“Highlands Coffee doing an IPO (initial public offering) in Vietnam as a standalone company is not something that we believe is the best way to take this forward,” Shin said during a media briefing, adding that they would focus on the brand’s continued recovery.

“We’re very satisfied with the strategy we took to not pull back due to fear, but to really understand that it was just cyclical and temporary, and we kept on pushing forward,” he added.