Updated 14:00 AEST
Sue Suckling has resigned as a director of Restaurant Brands New Zealand and its subsidiary, QSR Pty Limited on Friday last week.
The board of the fast food operator said it had ‘regretfully’ accepted her resignation.
Suckling’s resignation was signalled at the Restaurant Brands AGM back in July by Restaurant Brands Chairman, Ted Van Arkel.
In his address to the meeting, Van Arkel said Suckling (who is re-standing for election by rotation) will be retiring at the end of this year and he wanted to “acknowledge Sue’s contribution over her 10 years on the board, especially in the area of corporate governance.”
Restaurant Brands recently was successful in raising $94 million through a sale of shares to investors, helping fund its planned purchase of Pacific Island Restaurants, the largest fast-food operator in Hawaii with 82 Taco Bell and Pizza Hut stores.
The Auckland-based company raised $52m from institutions and $42m from retail investors through the offer of one new share at $4.70 apiece for every 5.15 shares already owned, it said.
Restaurant Brands, which runs the KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Coffee and Carl’s Jr food chains in New Zealand, is expanding into new markets to spread its risk and drive future earnings growth.
In April, it bought the biggest KFC franchisee in New South Wales, Australia, and it expects to complete the $US105m ($NZ150m) purchase of Pacific Island Restaurants by late December, with the remaining funds coming from $US42m ($NZ60m) of debt.
