Partners Group confirms China restaurant chain investment

It was revealed three months ago in a filing with the anti-monopoly bureau of the Ministry of Commerce that Partners Group proposed to acquire a 30% interest in Affluent Fine, a holding company for Green Tea and other brands.

Family-owned Green Tea started in 2008 as a single restaurant in Hangzhou. It has since built a chain of 78 wholly-owned establishments across 19 Chinese cities, mainly in shopping malls. The chain is famous for serving Hangzhou food - known as "Hangbang cai" in Chinese - including sweet and sour sauce fish, braised Dongpo pork, and Longjing tea-fried prawns.

The company also runs Play King, a restaurant serving Western cuisine that opened in Beijing last year. At present, Green Tea has more than 4,500 employees and receives around 15 million customers every year.

Following the transaction, Tim Pihl Johannessen, a managing director in Partners Group's industry value creation team, and Sheng Liu, a senior vice president in the Asia team, will join Green Tea’s board. They will work on initiatives including enhancing the company’s marketing strategy and corporate governance framework, as well as supporting the continued rollout of restaurants in China.

“Green Tea Restaurant is a well-established brand in a resilient sector supported by a highly experienced team. The company's fast roll-out has been supported by secular trends, such as increasing disposable income and urbanization, as well as by the growing number of shopping malls in China and the expansion of the casual dining sector, which is seen as offering value-for-money dining experiences,” Liu said in a statement.

Partners Group’s first direct investment in China came in 2015, when it acquired a minority stake in maternity and baby products retailer Aiyingshi. Prior to that, it bought Trimco, a Hong Kong-based garment label manufacturer with a strong mainland China presence.

 

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Expansion
• China
• Partners Group
• Growth capital