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London-based private equity firm McWin has bought the Danish-owned group of Japanese restaurants Sticks’n’Sushi in a multimillion-euro deal.
McWin has taken a roughly 95 per cent stake, with the company valued at about €80mn, according to people familiar with the matter.
The restaurant group, founded in Copenhagen almost 30 years ago, operates 27 sites across the UK, Denmark and Germany and has plans to expand in France and central Europe.
The deal is the latest in a recent wave of private equity groups returning to the hospitality and leisure sector. Apollo Global Management of the US bought Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group for £506mn in October.
The acquisition of Sticks’n’Sushi marks the end of a 10-year ownership by Danish asset manager Maj Invest, which oversaw the growth of the company from a family business to an international brand.
It reported record revenues of £90mn for the year ending in June 2023.
Maj Invest “have been really good parents as I call them”, said Andreas Karlsson, Sticks’n’Sushi chief executive. “And I believe I have found some exceptional parents now, with the next phase of the ownership.”
Karlsson, who took the helm five years ago, will retain his stake and continue to run the business. “McWin is not coming in here to change anything, but to support what we have done,” he added.
McWin has specialised in the restaurant and food technology sector since it was established two-and-a-half years ago, having invested more than €1bn across 15 brands including pasta chain Vapiano and Gail’s Bakery.
Last year it bought a majority stake in Germany’s Italian-themed restaurant chain L’Osteria and signed a deal with the high-end French-owned chain Big Mamma.
“The restaurant sector is remarkably resilient in terms of customer demand,” said Harry Goss, partner at McWin.
“People continue to go out to eat regardless of the cycle, and as long as we are not actually in a physical lockdown, people will return to restaurants.”
The industry was hit by a number of challenges over the past few years as restaurant wages, food costs and utility bills rose on the back of surging inflation.
From a valuation perspective, the restaurant market had been “fairly soft” over the past two years, said Goss. “It has been, in our opinion, a good time to buy.”
“Private equity have fairly deep pockets and they like to spot opportunities,” said Paul Newman, head of leisure and hospitality at consultants RSM UK.
“The outlook for inflation is more positive and consumer sentiment is more positive, so it wouldn’t surprise me if [private equity firms] have backed the bottom of the market.”
