Korea’s CJ Foodville has kicked off efforts to expand and transform its cafeteria chain business into a stand-alone enterprise by attracting investment from overseas.

The company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday it sold about 30 percent stake in coffee chain A Twosome Place to Hong Kong-based Anchor Equity Partners and other foreign investors for 130 billion won ($121 million). The proceeds will be used to increase brand awareness of the European-style dessert café in Korea and overseas.

This is a pre-IPO deal ahead of an official listing led by Anchor Equity Partners together with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), according to a person familiar with the deal.

Despite the stake sale, CJ Foodville will maintain its management of the café chain.

A Twosome Place is more capable of yielding a profit and competitive than any other business units in CJ Foodville. It has 910 owned shops and franchisees, the third largest in terms of the number of shops in Korea and second behind Starbucks in terms of revenue.


[Photo provided by CJ Foodville]

By Han Woo-ram, Lee Hee-soo and Minu Kim

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (Feb. 1, 2018)