Bain Capital, a global private investment firm, announcing the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Higa Industries Co., Ltd., the master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza in Japan.
Bain Capital will acquire the company from its three current shareholders Duskin Co., Ltd., Daiwa SMBC Capital, and Ernest M. Higa, the company’s founder and CEO.
Domino’s Pizza, which is today the world leader in pizza delivery with more than 8,000 stores in over 60 countries, has been operating in Japan for 25 years under an exclusive master franchise agreement between Higa Industries and Domino’s Pizza International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Domino’s Pizza LLC.
Higa Industries currently operates 179 franchised Domino’s Pizza stores in Japan.
Commenting on the agreement, Yuji Sugimoto, a Managing Director at Bain Capital, was quoted to say: “We look forward to working with the Higa Industries team to support the continued growth of Domino’s Pizza in Japan and further strengthen its competitive edge.
“We believe there are significant opportunities for store growth, operational improvement, and attractive new product introductions, all of which can be aided by our knowledge of Domino’s Pizza and the resources of its global operations network”.
The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, is expected to close in early February.
Bain Capital has received committed financing for the deal from the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.
FinSMEs
25/01/2010