TA ASSOCIATES takes majority stake in HANA GROUP

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, 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.