LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Yum! Brands Inc. has reorganized its Yum! Restaurants International division (YRI) in its ongoing quest to expand and build strong brands globally. The company also promoted Micky Pant, 57, to chief executive officer of YRI, replacing Graham Allan, 56, who is retiring from the company early in 2012.

Pant most recently served as president of YRI and Global Branding. He will report to David Novak, chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands Inc.

Yum! also plans to separate its India business from YRI, creating a standalone reporting division called Yum! Restaurants India. Niren Chaudhary, 48, was promoted to president of this division, reporting to Novak.

“The growth at Yum! Restaurants International during the past eight years under Graham Allan’s leadership has been stellar,” Novak said. “YRI is a global powerhouse, having opened more than 7,500 new restaurants and grown its system-wide sales from $8.4 billion to more than $15 billion during Graham’s tenure as CEO.

“Graham Allan has established the strategies, structure and people capability that have proven so successful to our international expansion,” he added. “Over his 20-year career with YRI, he has made an outstanding and lasting impact on our company. While we certainly respect his personal decision to retire from YRI and return to the UK to be closer to his family, we thank him for his many significant contributions to setting our company up for continued future growth. At the same time, I’m very pleased Micky Pant has been promoted to CEO of YRI, ensuring a seamless transition in leadership.”

Yum! Brands, Inc. is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 38,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. Four of the company’s restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, quick-service seafood, pizza and Mexican-style food categories.