Japan's REVIC invests $10m in restaurant chain

According to a release, REVIC is making the investment via a subscription to convertible bonds and warrant issues by the company. Upon full conversion, the investment will give REVIC a 50.53% stake, making it the largest shareholder in the business.

Set up in 1954, Friendly is a chain of casual dining restaurants that operate in Western Japan and is headquartered in Osaka. It currently has 64 outlets in Osaka, seven in Kyoto, eight in Nara, six in Wakayama Prefecture and 11 in Hyogo Prefecture The firm has 202 full-time employees with the rest of it workforce made up of part time workers. 

The investment will be used to rehabilitate the business which has suffered from declining performance over the past two decades. This has mainly been due to both an increase in low cost competition in the casual dining segment exacerbated by impact of several consecutive macro-economic shocks, the most significant of which being the global financial crisis.

REVIC - formerly known as the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC-J) - was set up in the wake of the financial crisis and has predominately been engaged in direct investment in distressed Japanese firms. It is supervised directly by the cabinet office and has JPY1.2 trillion in assets. 

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Credit/Special Situations
• Japan
• Distress
• Consumer