PERMIRA takes majority stake in HANA GROUP
Context
The transaction is structured as a secondary leverage buyout executing the complete exit of TA Associates after a four-year holding period. The departing majority shareholder relinquishes control to facilitate the next institutional expansion phase. Under the definitive agreement, the incoming sponsor acquires an approximate 80% equity stake in the holding structure. Co-founder Jacques Attal and the executive management team led by Yann Coléou roll over substantial equity into the new vehicle. This significant reinvestment aligns long-term management incentives directly with institutional investor objectives. Debt financing is fully provided by BlueBay Asset Management via a €200M unitranche facility. The highly aggressive pricing terms offered by this credit fund displaced the incumbent financial partner Ares from the final syndicate. This flexible capital structure provides ample dry powder to fund imminent cross-border consolidation without draining operational liquidity. Final closing is projected for the end of the second quarter of 2019 following standard anti-trust approvals. Rothschild acted as exclusive financial advisor to the sell-side corporate entities. Cambon Partners and Alantra provided dual M&A advisory services to the buy-side consortium during these private negotiations.
HANA GROUP, which reported an EBITDA margin of LOGIN in 2018, is valued in this transaction at an EV/EBITDA multiple of LOGIN, representing a LOGIN to the average currently observed in the AgriFood sector (10.5x).
Note that this data is based on contribution from our growing community, composed of M&A and Private Equity professionals, and has been verified by our team to ensure its accuracy.
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Target
Hana Group, headquartered in France, operates as a designer of live-cooking food kiosks integrated within hypermarkets and transit hubs for retail grocery shoppers. The company utilizes four thousand staff members to prepare fresh sushi in front of consumers, which drives impulse purchasing at the point of sale. The retail network spans fourteen distinct brands, including Sushi Gourmet, across nine hundred international locations to maximize geographic diversification. Operations depend entirely on capturing existing foot traffic from host supermarket chains, reducing standalone marketing expenses significantly. The revenue model utilizes sales-linked commissions paid directly to large retailers, aligning property costs with store traffic fluctuations.
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Historical Financials (EUR)
Other operations with HANA GROUP
| Date | Acquirer | Target | Country | Sector | Deal Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/2016 | HANA GROUP | PEACE DINING CORP | UNITED STATES | Food Processing | Hana Group, backed by its institutional financial sponsor TA Associates, has completed the strategic cross-border acquisition of Peace Dining Corp from its founder, Josh Onishi. Peace Dining Corp operates as a pioneer in the North American and British grocery retail concession markets, managing an extensive network of roughly 200 Asian culinary kiosks across high-end grocery chains, notably Whole Foods Market, under the Genji, Mai, and Wok Street Kitchen brands, alongside a dedicated B2B catering division. Under the transaction terms, Josh Onishi will maintain continuity of localized operations, retaining his leadership role as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Peace Dining Corp within the United States. The investment thesis centers on immediate operational scale-up, global market consolidation, and cost-efficient geographic expansion into highly mature international territories. By integrating Peace Dining Corp, Hana Group expands its consolidated footprint to 380 corporate-owned points of entry across seven countries—including France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal—while inheriting an established nationwide logistics platform in the United States. This infrastructure bypasses the need for multi-million euro greenfield logistics capital expenditures, immediately doubling the group's global revenue base and positioning the unified platform to leverage cross-border commercial synergies, accelerate its monthly opening cadence, and solidify its market leadership in the global grocery-retail food concession segment. |
| 06/2015 | TA ASSOCIATES | HANA GROUP | FRANCE | Food Processing | TA Associates has executed a definitive agreement to acquire a 70% majority stake in Hana Group, marking a strategic transition from an entrepreneurial governance model toward an institutionalized corporate structure optimized for global market consolidation. The transaction is structured alongside a significant equity reinvestment from the Japanese culinary brand's historical founders, alignment that secures management continuity and leadership stability throughout the upcoming geographical expansion phase. By backing the existing management team, TA Associates intends to validate and accelerate the scalability of Hana Group's decentralized operating model. The post-closing strategic roadmap focuses on densifying the group's existing territorial footprint across European markets while systematically accelerating the monthly cadence of new corner openings within mass-market retail chains. |
REFERENCES
Valuation range: EV 300M - 700M EUR
Revenue range: 250M - 500M EUR
EBITDA range: 25M - 50M EUR
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Authors: verified mynth contributor (mynth data is contributed by M&A / PE professionals and systematically cross-verified with private deal documents and official press releases).
Press release: view release
Target: hana group
Acquirer: permira