Savola Said to Bid for $5 Billion KFC Operator Americana

Savola Group, a Saudi Arabian food producer, is among first-round bidders for Kuwait Food Co., the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa, people with knowledge of the situation said.

Kuwait Food, which is known as Americana, is likely to fetch more than $4 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. The average offer for the business was about 3.5 Kuwaiti dinars per share, which would value the franchise operator at about 1.41 billion dinars ($5 billion), one of the people said.