Jamba To Refranchise 100 Company-Owned Locations In California

(RTTNews) - Jamba Inc. (JMBA) announced that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Vitaligent, LLC to refranchise 100 Company-owned restaurants in the San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Jamba will receive a purchase price of $36.0 million in cash.

Vitaligent is led by David Peacock, former President of InBev subsidiary, Anheuser-Busch, and existing Jamba franchise partner in St. Louis, who, upon closing of the transaction, would own 105 Jamba locations.

"This is a significant step toward our achieving the Company's commitment to an asset light model and positions us well to reach our goal of generating $30 - $40 million of cumulative cash proceeds from refranchising in 2015. We remain focused on increasing shareholder value and will be using a portion of these proceeds to return capital to shareholders through stock repurchases." stated James D. White chairman, president and CEO of Jamba.

Jamba said it remains on track to complete its accelerated refranchising program within the first half of 2015. Discussions are underway with interested parties to sell an additional 14 locations in California.