A restaurant of Golden Jaguar, a high-end restaurant chain featuring high-end buffet, in Wangfujin Street, Beijing.[CFP]
Apax buys high-end Chinese restaurant chain
Apax Partners, Europe's largest private equity firm, announced Tuesday it has acquired Golden Jaguar, a luxury buffet chain based in Shanghai, but declined to disclose details of the transaction. The deal reflects the firm's optimistic view on China's food, beverage and catering industry. Before acquiring Golden Jaguar, Apax also invested in SouFun Holdings Ltd., China's largest online real estate portal. "Apax actively focuses on opportunities to capitalize on China's fast-growing economy and domestic consumption market," said Richard Zhang, a partner and president of Apax in the greater China region. "Golden Jaguar has a unique business model and performance, and it will expand into more Chinese cities over the next few years." Golden Jaguar, founded in 2003, has 18 restaurants in six cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin. The company reported profits last year of 40 million yuan on sales of 900 million yuan. 2003 10 18 2010 9 4000 Industrial analysts say the deal will help Golden Jaguar with plans for a stock listing, a move it has sought since 2009. 2009 Media reports in March said the restaurant planned to raise US$200 million on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the second half of this year. 3 2 15.6
China's business press carried the story above on Wednesday.
