L Capital supports acquisition of global rights to Jones the Grocer

JTG, which is already the master franchisee for the Jones the Grocer in the Middle East and North Africa, has acquired the global rights to the brand. In a separate transaction, L Capital invested in JTG. Another subsidiary of the private equity firm holds the master franchise rights for various markets in Asia Pacific.

Jones the Grocer was set up in 1996 and went into voluntary administration in 2002. Over the ensuing years efforts were made to take the business overseas and this was part of L Capital's investment thesis when it initially bought a 50% interest in July 2012. It now has eight outlets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two in Singapore, two in New Zealand, one each in Qatar, Bahrain and Thailand, as well as four in Australia.

However, the company ran into trouble in 2014 due to a dispute between L Capital and its partner, who remained CEO after the investment. AVCJ was previously told by a source familiar with the situation that L Capital "partnered with the wrong guy." The parties were unable to work together and the structure of the investment agreement made it difficult to replace the CEO, so the GP took the business into administration.

Proceedings were instigated in different markets, with the private equity firm successfully bidding for both sets of assets out of administration in Australia and Singapore. Meanwhile, a new master franchise agreement was put in place for the Middle East and North Africa. The recently announced investments appear to represent a completion of the restructuring process. JTG will be headquartered in the UAE under the leadership of CEO Yunib Siddiqui.

"We have been investors in the Jones the Grocer brand since 2012. While our investment faced many challenges, we keenly observed the passion and professionalism with which Yunib and his team have built a successful franchise in the Middle East. They have made investments in a world-class infrastructure that is capable of supporting a global expansion of the brand. We are certain that as the new owners of the brand, they will do full justice to exploiting its true potential," Ravi Thakran, managing partner of L Capital Asia, said in a statement.

The private equity firm will support JTG as it rolls out more stores directly or with franchise partners.

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• Topics
• MENA
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Australasia
• Southeast Asia
• L Capital Asia