Consumer Equity Investments Limited (“CEIL”) an international company located in the Republic of Ireland and backed by the Permira funds, today announced its agreement to acquire Unison Capital’s stake in Akindo Sushiro Co., a sushi restaurant chain based in Japan at an enterprise value of approximately $1 billion. CEIL will draw upon the Permira’s experience in the consumer industry segment and track record of assisting brands to develop in overseas markets.
Sushiro is a leader in the “revolving‟ sushi restaurant space in Japan and currently operates 335 revolving counter sushi bars throughout Japan and three in Korea. Sushiro employs over 1,000 full time and 10,000 part time staff. The company had approximately ¥100 billion in revenues for the year ending September 2011 and is based in Osaka, Japan (www.sushiro.com).
“CEIL was attracted to Sushiro’s corporate vision of providing high quality sushi at attractive prices and sees ample potential in exporting Japan’s food culture further. Sushiro has successfully grown over the last few years and has now become a very well-known and popular brand. CEIL is confident that it is well positioned to further expand both in Japan and overseas,” said Alex Emery, Partner and Co Head of Asia at Permira.
Permira has €20 billion (US$26 billion) of capital under management and invests in the following sectors: consumer; financial services; healthcare; industrials; and technology, media and telecom. Permira is based in London, UK with offices in Frankfurt, Guernsey, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Menlo Park, Milan, New York, Paris, Stockholm and Tokyo (www.permira.com).
The investment in Sushiro represents the fourth investment in Asia which has been supported by the Permira funds, and the second investment in Japan following the acquisition in 2008 of Arysta Lifescience, one of the leading global agrochemical businesses.
“We are delighted to be partnering with CEIL as we look to enter the next stage of Sushiro’s development. We believe that there is growing demand both in Japan and elsewhere for our value proposition and that CEIL, supported by the Permira funds with their extensive experience in investing in growing businesses with international potential, is the ideal partner to help us deliver on our growth plans in the coming few years,” said Kenichi Toyosaki, CEO of Sushiro.
Nomura Securities acted as financial advisor to CEIL.
© 2012 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-27-12
