Permira considers IPO for Japan sushi chain Akindo Sushiro -sources (updated)
22/04/2016 09:52
* Firm valued at about $1.4 bln including debt - source
* Permira expected to hire banks in coming weeks - source
* Akindo Sushiro leads Japan conveyor belt sushi market
* Market grew 7.2 pct to 560 bln yen in 2015 -researcher
(Adds details on company and industry)
By Denny Thomas and Junko Fujita
HONG KONG/TOKYO, April 22 (Reuters) - European buyout firm
Permira PERM.UL is considering selling Japanese sushi chain
operator Akindo Sushiro Co in an initial public offering and is
now deciding on underwriters for a sale that could value the
restaurant company at about $1.4 billion, people with direct
knowledge of the matter said.
Permira bought Sushiro from Japanese private equity firm
Unison Capital in 2012 for about 80 billion yen ($724 million).
The value of the conveyor belt sushi restaurant firm has since
grown to about 150 billion yen including debt, one of the people
with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The buyout firm is expected to hire banks in the coming
weeks, this person said. The people with knowledge of the matter
declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential.
Permira declined to comment.
The sale plan comes as Japan's conveyor belt sushi market
outpaces growth in the rest of the country's restaurant trade.
With more than 400 sushi restaurants, Akindo Sushiro is the
biggest operator, according to industry experts.
The Japanese conveyor belt sushi market grew 7.2 percent to
560 billion yen in 2015 from a year earlier, according to market
research firm NPD Japan, easily beating 1.4 percent growth in a
restaurant and takeaway market worth 19.4 trillion yen.
Akindo Sushiro reported revenue of 127 billion yen in the
year ended September 2014, the last period for which it
disclosed sales.
So far this year, Japanese companies have sold $1.6 billion
from IPOs compared with $15.2 bln for the whole of last year,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
($1 = 110.5400 yen)
(Reporting by Denny Thomas in HONG KONG and Junko Fujita in
TOKYO; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Kenneth Maxwell)
((813-6441-1840, junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters
Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))
Keywords: PERMIRA SUSHI/IPO