Selected as the organizer of the sale of Deutsche Securities
2016 VIG acquired Hanil Burger King in 2021, but failed to do so due to the sale of Burger King Japan.
[This article was reported on “Radar M,” a paid media outlet specializing in the capital market in Mail Business, on June 16 (14:46)]
Hong Kong-based private equity fund (PEF) Affinity Equity Partners is trying to sell domestic Burger King operator BKR again. It has been more than three years since the first sale, which began in 2021, was suspended.
According to the investment bank (IB) industry on the 16th, Affinity recently selected Deutsche Securities as the selling company and started contacting original buyers. The target of sale is 100% stake in BKR held by Affinity.
BKR has domestic business rights under Burger King and coffee brand Tim Holton. Each store has 550 stores and about 25 stores. Last year, sales reached 893.3 billion won.
This is not the first time that Affinity is attempting to sell Burger King. Affinity acquired the management rights of Burger King in Korea and Japan from VIG Partners in 2016 for about 220 billion won. Since 2021, the company has started selling Burger King in Korea and Japan, but the sale has been difficult due to the impact of soaring market interest rates due to COVID-19. Eventually, the sale was suspended in 2022.
Affinity reposted the BKR sale because it successfully completed the sale of Burger King Japan earlier this year. Affinity sold Burger King Japan to Goldman Sachs in March for about 750 billion won. In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of multiplexes was recognized about 20 times. Sales have grown 290 times in the seven years since the acquisition.
The success or failure of the BKR sale is expected to depend on the sale of another F&B ‘big fish’ Mom’s Touch. KLN Partners, a domestic PE, recently selected Citi Global Market Securities as the sales manager and started selling all of its shares in Mom’s Touch & Company. As the sale price is discussed up to KRW 1 trillion, industry analysts say that Affinity can also be greedy for the sale price of Burger King. It is said that not only domestic but also foreign SI (strategic investors) are willing to take over the sale of Mom’s Touch.
Meanwhile, there is also a domestic PE that is paying attention to two large F&B transactions. This is Q Capital Partners, which is in the process of selling yellow whole chicken. Last year, Q Capital negotiated a sale with Jollibee, a Philippine company, but it was finally canceled. Q Capital recently sent out a tender offer request (RFP) to select a new sales organizer. The previous seller was Samjeong KPMG. Rich Beam, which runs Pizza Nara’s Chicken Princess, has also been seeking to sell its management rights since last year.
